COLUMBUS, Ohio – In 2015, as part of the Western Lake Erie Collaborative Agreement, the state of Ohio committed to reducing nutrient loading into Lake Erie by 40 percent by 2025. Michigan and Ontario, Canada, made similar pledges.

Like many others, Putnam County farmer Jeff Duling is trying his darndest to keep the water clean.

And Ohio is doing its darndest to meet that reduction goal. Jordan Hoewischer, Ohio Farm Bureau director of water quality and research, thinks there’s a good possibility that the state will succeed.

“We’re making strides in understanding what’s going on and what needs to be done,” Hoewischer said. “It took a little while to get our bearings on which conservation practices need to go on the fields to reduce those nutrients.”

Ohio has seen a slight decrease in nutrients over the last four years and the numbers are starting to trend in that direction. “We’re optimistic that it’s going to hit that goal or at least get close,” Hoewischer said.

Ohio farmers have installed conservation practices on their fields using programs like H2Ohio and the Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS) Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and others. They have ramped up the numbers of acres that are under conservation practices in the Western Lake Erie Basin.

How does anyone know any of this is working? Heidelberg University monitors the amount of phosphorous that goes into the lake. Researchers have historical data. They can track those numbers over years. They saw the numbers increase year over year as nutrients started climbing and now they’re seeing those numbers climb down.

“Weather plays a huge role in how drastic of an effect some of these nutrients have on the water quality,” Hoewischer said. “Some years are better than others; we’re seeing a 50 percent increase of 1-or more inch rain events over the last 30 years. In some of those cases we’re seeing 2-to 5-inch rains and it is hard to do anything in that scenario.”

Weather patterns are changing, he said. On average, farmers are losing five field days in the spring and five in the fall. On top of that, farmers are asked to increase their use of cover crops and other techniques that maybe take more time.

The Blanchard River Demonstration Farms, a project between Ohio Farm Bureau and NRCS is helping figure things out. That project is in the sixth of 10 years of testing new and old conservation practices. Plus, USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is doing edge-of-field monitoring and then amplifying those results to show the farmers what is happening in real-life scenarios.

In Putnam County, Duling is a big believer in conservation practices. He farms about 1,300 acres and custom farms roughly 600 acres. Duling raises corn, soybeans, wheat, cattle and is a contract pig farmers. Water from his farm drains into the Blanchard River and eventually to Lake Erie.

“Last year all my acres were 100 percent covered,” he said. “We worked hard last fall and by November the 10th we were still sowing cover crops. I know the H2Ohio says we have to have it done by October the 15th (he wasn’t getting paid last year because of COVID-19 funding cuts) but I’m not going to quit on Oct. 15. If we don’t have them finished; I’m still going to plant because I believe in cover crops.”

Last fall he injected 7,000 gallons of hog manure into a field after soybeans were harvested. Then he planted cereal rye for a cover crop. The corn was planted green into 6-foot tall rye this spring. Duling follows all recommendations from his nutrient management plan.

Next, he tried interseeding, something new. He planted a cover crop into a field of corn that was about 12 inches tall. He can already see the clovers and other seedlings growing. “We have a spreader that goes down the cornrows,” he said. “I can only go 35 feet at a time. It takes a little bit of time but I believe in it so I do it.”

Duling also soil samples “religiously,” he said. He grid samples on a 2.5-acre grid. After a few years when he has a field figured out, he might go to a 5-acre grid to save money.

“For years we’ve had filter strips, waterways, grass waterways, buffers along any ditch, even if it’s not in the program, I still have a grass buffer,” Duling said.

Duling’s main goal is to make money. But he appreciates what these conservation practices do for his soil. “I’m here to make money, that’s my main goal, but I want to be a good steward,” he said. “I see what it does to my soil. I just believe in it. When I see what it does to my crops it makes me feel good.”

People often ask if he makes money using these practices. His corn yielded 268 bushels to the acre last year and he came in second for Putnam County in the National Corn Growers yield contest. “I have good crops,” he said.

Duling will have a farm field day on Aug. 12. For information, visit putnamswcd.com and click on “Events.”