By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER

Ohio Correspondent

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A series of workshops will soon provide farmers in the Western Lake Erie Basin with new resources to aid in their efforts to protect water quality.

Researchers are busy figuring out how to solve Lake Erie’s harmful algal bloom (HABs) issues. Results aren’t in yet, but science is showing that a couple practices are top-of-the-list when it comes to improving water quality.

The Ohio State University, USDA and private sector researchers have found that soil testing and nutrient management plans (NMP) are both easily done and can meaningfully reduce nutrient runoff, said Brandon Kern, Ohio Farm Bureau Federation’s (OFBF) senior director for strategic partnerships.

Ohio farm organizations and their partners will be offering a series of workshops to provide farmers with individualized NMPs. During Session 1, experts will advise farmers on obtaining soil tests. They will write their NMPs from those soil tests. The plans will be completed using a program developed by the Ohio Department of Agriculture.

“An NMP is almost a prescription for what you can do on your farm to manage your nutrient applications and the steps you can take to minimize nutrient runoff,” Kern said. “It can be done through a consultation with an expert in the field; it can also be done by taking soil samples and creating a prescription of how you’re going to apply nutrients based on what your soil samples are telling you.”

NMPs for farms are important, said Greg LaBarge, field specialist in agronomic systems for OSU extension.

“A key part of that is taking a soil test that has a good representation of the field that we’re trying to determine the fertilizer recommendation for,” he said. “We need to put those two pieces together. That will start to address those 4Rs – right source, rate, time and place – and then trying to do some placement below that surface level.”

The workshops will be a two-part series, Kern said. Session 1 will be educational content; that will include information such as how to conduct effective soil sampling, discussing current trends and issues concerning good stewardship and nutrient management.

The organizers are hoping the first class can be certified to serve as recertification for Ohio’s Fertilization Certification Application, as many Ohio farmers will be due for that soon.

As part of that first workshop, the presenters will be sure the farmers understand what kind of information they need to collect on their farm so that when they come back for Session 2 they will have what they need to write the NMP, Kern said.

“At Session 2, the instructor, experts from Soil and Water Conservation Districts and certified crop advisors from OSU extension be circulate the room to help farmers write their plans,” he said.

“Farmers will get a (USB) flash drive; they’ll bring in the data from their farm, and plug into a computer. Experts will lead them through the process of completing their NMP right on site. Farmers can walk out that day with their plan.”

It is anticipated the workshops will begin this summer. The partnering groups are the Ohio AgriBusiness Assoc., Ohio Cattlemen’s Assoc., Ohio’s Certified Crop Advisors, Ohio Corn and Wheat Growers Assoc., Ohio Dairy Producers Assoc., OFBF, Ohio Federation of Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Ohio Pork Council, Ohio Poultry Assoc., Ohio Sheep Improvement Assoc., Ohio Soybean Assoc. and OSU.

Experts agree no single change to farming practices can eliminate nutrient runoff, nor are there any quick fixes.

On the heels of the announcement of these workshops, the Ohio EPA declared its decision to list Lake Erie as impaired. That will have no immediate impact on farmers or the lake’s water quality, stated OFBF. The professional consensus is that the designation in itself means little, the group said.

It does not create mandatory actions, nor does it provide federal money. It excludes Canada’s role in protecting the lake. It also creates a long and complicated bureaucratic process that may impede current progress on reducing HABs, OFBF added.