Know your phosphorus risk (even better)

The Ohio Phosphorus Risk Index, an online planning tool for farmers, and a help for trying to reduce the phosphorus getting into Lake Erie, is being revised through the efforts of a scientist from CFAES.

Elizabeth (Libby) Dayton, soil scientist in CFAES’s School of Environment and Natural Resources, said the index weighs a farmer’s crop management practices and related details. Then, based on those factors, it provides a long-term estimate of the risk of phosphorus runoff. The farmer could adjust his or her practices to reduce the risk.

Phosphorus runoff from farm fields, coming from fertilizer or manure applied to the fields, can be a cause of harmful algal blooms in water bodies — Lake Erie being a major example.

To reduce those blooms, which can threaten the safety of drinking water, the 2012 U.S.-Canada Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement set a target of reducing the phosphorus entering Lake Erie’s western basin by 40 percent.

Dayton talks about her On-Field Ohio project, which is doing the work to revise the index, in the video above.

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