Virtual Manure Monday Registration

Manure Monday webinars are back. Manure Mondays Registration Form is included in the link below. Join the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs starting Monday, March 4th, 2024 at 2 pm to continue conversations about a variety of aspects dealing with manure management.

Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs invites you to the 2024 Manure Monday Series. Sessions will be delivered through Zoom.  The sessions are free. When you register, you will be registered for all sessions. Registration link click here. Session dates will be March 4, 11, 18, and 25 from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm ET.

  • March 4 – Recycling Sand – Emerging Technologies for Sand-laden Manure
  • March 11th–Manure Application Logistics and Field Strategies –making the most of every minute of application
  • March 18th-Manure Additives –Overview of what’s available and how they work
  • March 25 –Composting Bedded Pack Barns -The Ontario Study.

If you have any questions please contact us at by phone at 1-877-424-1300 or by email at ag.info.omafra@ontario.ca.

Fall is the perfect time to review the Phosphorus Loss Risk Assessment document for determining P application rates

Fall is a busy time of year for many of us involved in agriculture; from harvest to cover crop seeding, to wheat planting and fertilizer application, we have a ton of tasks to get done in a short window of time. But with the hectic nature of the season comes an opportunity to refresh ourselves with the recommendations for Phosphorus application rates. Continue reading

New Factsheet: “Understanding How Soil Test Phosphorus Impacts Water Quality”

A factsheet discussing the relationship between the amount of Phosphorus in our soils and water quality, written by Greg LaBarge, Field Specialist, Agronomic Systems and Rachel Cochran, Water Quality Extension Associate at Ohio State University was released today. It discusses the importance of P management, as well as different studies that have examined the relationship between P levels and water quality. Many best practices for managing high P levels are discussed as well. View the factsheet at this link, or visit Ohioline and search for the factsheet ANR-0111.

OSU Extension’s CLM Webinar Series is back for December!

Join OSU Extension’s Water Quality Team for the third installment of their Certified Livestock Manger (CLM) Webinar Series! The webinar to be held from 10-11:30AM on Monday, December 5th will discuss how to utilize manure as an organic fertilizer on your operation. Continue reading

Private Pesticide Recertification Deadline is July 1 – In Person Training in Paulding County June 24

There are two options for last chance re-certification for Paulding County Fertilizer or Private Pesticide applicators. Private pesticide and fertilizer applicators who expired either in March 2020 or 2021 have until July 1 to recertify and renew.

  1. In-Person option on Thursday, June 24 – 8:00 AM – Fertilizer Recertification ($10) 9:15 AM – Pesticide Recertification ($35).  Please call the office at 419-399-8225 to register. Ask for Sarah Noggle
  2.   A self-paced online recertification course is available at https://pested.osu.edu/onlinerecert. You can also access the course by clicking the purple box titled “Self-Paced Recertification Courses” at pested.osu.edu (see screenshot image below).

Continue reading

Battle for Lake Erie includes debate over manure-based phosphorus concentration

8/31/2020
BY TOM HENRY / THE BLADE

A major agronomic debate is being played out in Columbus now, which has potentially large ramifications for western Lake Erie and goes beyond simply looking at the staggering volumes of liquid and solid excrement produced by northwest Ohio cows, hogs, and chickens.

It focuses on the minutia of agricultural science, right down to the parts per million of phosphorus applied to soil in the form of manure.

One of the many groups raising questions is the Lake Erie Foundation, a consortium of Lake Erie-area business and environmental interests. That group and others, including Lake Erie Waterkeeper, want manure-based phosphorus applications dialed down to roughly the same concentration as commercially made, synthetic fertilizers, which is about 40 to 50 parts per million. Manure has for years been applied on northwest Ohio crop farms at much higher concentrations, usually 150 ppm. Some critics, though, claim the application rate has, in reality, gotten as high as 200 ppm to 250 ppm.

From information gathered in a public records request, the foundation believes the state of Ohio has rejected a recommendation from an independent consultant, McKinsey & Co., to promote 50 ppm as a limit for manure, even though Dorothy Pelanda, Ohio Department of Agriculture director, showed support for that in 2019. The firm was paid $1.5 million to provide advice to the DeWine administration for its H2Ohio program, which aims to improve water quality statewide through better farming techniques, more and improved wetlands, better pipelines, and other measures. Continue reading