Nutrient management & Water quality
Working group recommendations for nutrient management
By Matt Reese The Directors’ Agricultural Nutrients and Water Quality Working Group met earlier this week at the Ohio Department of Agriculture to finalize their extensive findings on how agriculture is contributing to water quality problems and how this can be controlled. The group was assembled to aggregate all of the available information on the ...
Water quality working group finalizing recommendations
By Matt Reese Fines for nutrient loss? A new tax on fertilizer? A moratorium on tile installation? Permits for all nutrient applications? Mandatory drainage control structures and tile filters? Though some are unlikely, there are plenty of terrifying regulatory scenarios that have been conjured up as possible solutions to the challenging water quality situation in ...
Properly applying manure on frozen ground
By Amanda Meddles, Ohio State University Extension program coordinator in environmental management Livestock producers across Ohio and the Midwest have been unable to apply manure this fall and early winter due to saturated field conditions. Most livestock farmers are really pressed for manure storage room. Waiting for frozen ground to apply manure is likely to be ...
Soil sampling key in controlling phosphorus loss
By Matt Reese Improving water quality starts with getting an accurate soil sample. This is a crucial step in avoiding costly over application of phosphorus and environmental challenges in the coming years. This was an important part of the discussion surrounding the improvement of water quality in Lake Erie at the Soil and Water Conservation ...
No-till is a solution and a problem for phosphorus loss
By Matt Reese It seems that, with regard to the phosphorus problems in Lake Erie and other bodies of water, no-till is part of the solution and part of the problem. Lake Erie was once known around the world for its pollution and water quality problems, but in the 1970s, farmers and industry teamed up ...
Research takes broad look at Lake Erie Watershed
A new research project at Ohio State University integrates biological, physical and social sciences to develop a complete picture of what drives decision-making processes and environmental conditions in the Maumee River watershed. The four-year, $1.5 million project, funded by the National Science Foundation, will combine decision-making models with hydrological modeling and future climate change scenarios ...
USDA revises national nutrient management standard
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has revised its national conservation practice standard on nutrient management to help producers better manage the application of nutrients on agricultural land. Proper application of nitrogen and phosphorus offers tremendous benefits to producers and the public, including cost savings to the producer and the ...
4R nutrient stewardship efforts address Lake Erie algae
Farmers and other key stakeholders successfully reduced total phosphorus going into Lake Erie over the past 50 years, but must revaluate nutrient management practices to more effectively manage dissolved phosphorus in those same bodies of water, according to one Ohio State University Extension expert. “It’s a different problem from what we had in the 1960s ...
New Report Shows Conservation Practices Work
A new USDA study shows that farmers using combinations of erosion-control and nutrient-management practices on cultivated cropland are reducing losses of sediment, nitrogen and phosphorous from farm fields and decreasing the movement of these materials to the Great Lakes and their associated waterways. “The Great Lakes Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) study confirms that good ...
Farmers get a closer look at Lake Erie algae issues
On Aug. 22, the Ottawa Soil and Water Conservation District held the “Lake Erie Ag Tour 2011.” With all the headlines about algal blooms on Ohio lakes the past two years, and farmers getting much of the blame, the goal of the ...
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