Harmful algal blooms are on the upswing in Oregon — in part due to climate change, Beaver State experts say — and CFAES scientist Jay Martin, head of the college’s Field to Faucet initiative, spoke on Ohio’s bloom background in a June 30 story in the Bend (Oregon) Bulletin.
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How to boost crop yields, protect water quality
Two field days on the best ways to use nutrients on farms are set for late July in northwest and western Ohio.
Both events aim to help farmers maximize their crop yields while minimizing nutrient runoff risk, says co-organizer Greg LaBarge, a field specialist with CFAES’s outreach arm, OSU Extension.
Doing that, he says, can lower input costs, raise profits and limit water quality threats such as harmful algal blooms. Read about both events. (Photo: Nelson A Ishikawa, iStock.)
Algae alert network underway
A project called the Cyanobacteria Assessment Network, or CyAN, is developing an early warning system to detect toxic algal blooms in inland lakes across the U.S., reports a recent Columbus Dispatch story by James Steinbauer. Senior researcher Justin Chaffin of Ohio State’s Stone Lab on Lake Erie is quoted among others. The project involves the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Geological Survey, and NASA. More from EPA.
Watch: How Ohio farmers, with CFAES’s help, are doing even more to protect water
CFAES experts recently posted videos of the commercial fertilizer training they’re providing. Completing this training in person is required of anyone who applies fertilizer on more than 50 acres in Ohio. Watching by video can give you an idea of what the training is about if you haven’t taken it yet, can be a refresher if you’ve already taken it, or simply can show you, if you’re interested, some of the research-based, forward-moving steps being taken to keep Ohio’s water clean. You can watch an example above.
Is water quality trading a solution?
Could water quality trading help solve Ohio’s nutrient issues? Farm and Dairy’s Chris Kick has the story, reporting on the recent joint meeting of the Water Quality Taskforce and the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee of the County Commissioners Association of Ohio. The meeting was at OARDC in Wooster, which is CFAES’s research arm, and had several speakers from CFAES.
Webinar looks at managing watersheds, has expert speakers from CFAES
CFAES’s Anne Baird and Joe Bonnell will present “Professional Development Needs of Water Resource Managers: Core Competencies” during a free webinar called “Developing Capacity for Local Watershed Management” from 2-3 p.m. CT (3-4 p.m. ET) May 18. The event is part of an ongoing series sponsored by the 12-state North Central Region Water Network. Learn more and register here. Baird and Bonnell are with the School of Environment and Natural Resources and OSU Extension’s Ohio Watershed Network.
Watch: Clean water? Healthy farms? How to have both
In the new video above, CFAES’s Jay Martin talks about a recent report on the best ways to improve Lake Erie’s water quality while making sure farms stay healthy — that is, that they’re good producers of food, profitable for the farmer and sustainable for the environment. Martin heads CFAES’s Field to Faucet water quality initiative. There’s a previous related post here.
Algal bloom effort releases report
Ohio Sea Grant, on behalf of Ohio State, the University of Toledo and the Ohio Department of Higher Education, has released the annual report for the first year of funding for the Harmful Algal Bloom Research Initiative (HABRI), which seeks solutions for harmful algal blooms in Ohio. Included are details on 18 new studies; some involve CFAES scientists. Read the press release. Read the report.
Farmers’ ‘vital role’ in health of Lake Erie
Farmers in northwest Ohio’s Maumee River watershed “have a vital role to play” in the health of Lake Erie, Jeff Reutter, special adviser to Ohio State’s Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Lab, said while speaking at a farmer forum last week in Bowling Green. Bill Ryan reported on Reutter’s comments in yesterday’s Bowling Green Sentinel-Tribune…
Feb. 23: Learn about world’s largest water quality trading program
The groundbreaking, award-winning Ohio River Basin Trading Project, which aims to keep water clean while boosting farmers’ incomes, is the focus of February’s breakfast presentation by the Environmental Professionals Network. Continue reading Feb. 23: Learn about world’s largest water quality trading program