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Thousands more still need to complete training to combat Lake Erie algae
January 23, 2017 By Farm Credit Canada
Ohio’s agriculture leaders say thousands of farmers have completed training that will be required for putting fertilizer on fields, but many more face a September deadline to finish the program aimed at combating the toxic algae fouling Lake Erie.
The first of its kind requirement is one of several steps Ohio has taken to reduce the farm runoff that feeds algae in the state’s lakes and rivers.
State lawmakers put the measure in place in 2014, just months before algae in Lake Erie contaminated the drinking water for more than 400,000 people in northwestern Ohio and southeastern Michigan.
They gave farmers three years to be certified for commercial fertilizer use on more than 50 acres of farmland. So far, about 12,000 farmers and workers who apply commercial fertilizer — mainly phosphorus and nitrogen — have been certified, said Dave Daniels, director of the state’s agriculture department. | READ MORE
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