Proper farming key to reducing algal blooms

MARBLEHEAD — Convincing farmers to adopt practices to preserve Lake Erie health remains key in reducing harmful algal blooms.The Lake Erie Foundation hosted a forum on the health of Lake Erie Monday at Wesley Lodge at Lakeside Chautauqua, with much of the discussion focused upon changing farm practices in the region.Jeff Reutter, the retired former director of Ohio Sea Grant, gave a presentation to an audience of about 50 on the state of the science of harmful algal blooms, basing his talk on a white paper, "Summaries of Findings and Strategies to Move Toward a 40 percent Phosphorus Reduction," written by Reutter and eight other scientists.It's a good summary of the current understanding of how to achieve a reduction of phosphorus, a key factor in harmful algal blooms, that's been agreed upon by Ohio, Michigan and Ottawa, Canada, Reutter said.Several officials at Monday's forum said everyone interested in the lake's algal bloom problem should read the six-page white paper, available online at bit.ly/2AM9dUI. Copies of the paper are being circulated in the governor's office, said state Sen. Randy Gardner, R-Bowling Green.The paper said speakers at a recent Toledo conference pinpointed four key steps to reduce nutrients causing harmful algal blooms:1. Have farmers test their soil and then follow guidelines for the amount of fertilizer needed2. Get farmers to incorporate fertilizer into the soil3. Take steps to control erosion from farmers4. Manage drainage water to reduce the amount of water leaving a field.Other key findings in the paper highlighted in Reutter's talk include:• Only one-third of the farmers in the Maumee River watershed are following best practices to reduce phosphorus runoff from their farms. Another one third are willing, but one third will require more persuasion.• The majority of the farmers in the western basin of Lake Erie are willing to do soil tests to determine proper fertilizer application, a key step.• There are three possible ways to get farmers to adopt good practices: Education to encourage voluntary adoption, paying them to use good practices and regulations to mandate good practices.• Giving farmers viable ways to deal with large amounts of manure will be a key to reducing phosphorus runoff in the lake.• Other sources of phosphorus that goes into the lake, including the Detroit River, sewer overflows and septic tank systems, are trivial compared to the amount of phosphorus dumped into the lake by the Maumee and Sandusky rivers by runoff from farms.Mandates forcing all farmers to follow best practices "are not likely in the near term," Gardner predicted.State Rep. Steve Arndt, R-Port Clinton, said he senses farmers want to be helpful."Best practice management is not always as easy as it sounds," he said.Gardner said he is continuing to push for a state bond issue that would finance efforts to improve water quality in Ohio, including paying for equipment that farmers could borrow to incorporate fertilizer into the soil.The Lake Erie Foundation, created in 2016, is a 501(c)(3) charity that seeks to protect Lake Erie. The foundation recently received a boost when Tom Hanway and Keleen McDevitt committed to donating more than $1 million to it during a 15-year period, said Sandy Bihn, executive director of the foundation.Reach reporter Tom Jackson at jackson@sanduskyregister.com and follow him on Twitter @jacksontom.Lee Alexakos, left, a Cedar Fair vice president and a member of the board of the Lake Erie Foundation, chats with state Sen. Randy Gardner, R-Bowling Green, before a forum Monday at Lakeside Chautauqua. Sandy Bihn, executive director of the Lake Erie Foundation.