Injecting farm fertilizer below the ground instead of spreading it on the surface could help achieve most of Lake Erie’s 40 percent phosphorus reduction goal, said CFAES scientist Margaret Kalcic in a Dec. 3 story in the Toledo Blade. The practice also would allow farmers to maintain their productivity, she said.
The reduction goal is aimed at preventing the harmful algal blooms plaguing the lake. Agricultural phosphorus runoff is considered the blooms’ main cause.
Kalcic joined the Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering this summer as an assistant professor. Her research area is watershed hydrology, especially water quality in agricultural regions.