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by Larry Antosch, OFBF director of environmental research

Do you use conservation tillage? Are you following a comprehensive nutrient management plan developed specifically for your farming operation? Do you strategically manage weeds and other yield-robbing pests? Have you installed conservation buffers? If so, then stand up and pat yourself on the back. You have made management decisions for your operation that not only improve your profitability but enhance the quality of Ohio’s water resources.

You don’t believe it? Let's have the data speak for itself. In a report prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey (December 2000), sediment loading from agricultural fields has been greatly reduced. During the period from 1993 to 1998 conservation tillage practices were used on 55.4 percent of the cropland in the Maumee River basin. The increased use of conservation tillage was found to correspond to decreases in suspended sediment discharge over time at two locations in the Maumee River basin. A 49.8 percent decrease in suspended sediment discharge was detected when data from 1970 to 1974 was compared to data from 1996 to 1998 for the Auglaize River near Ft. Jennings. A decrease in suspended sediment discharge of 11.2 percent was detected from 1970 to 1998 for the Maumee River at Waterville.

Still not convinced? Research has shown that through the installation of conservation buffers, agricultural producers are reducing up to 75 percent of the sediment, up to 50 percent of the nitrogen and phosphorus and up to 60 percent of pathogens reaching surface water by trapping it in vegetation. Every acre of conservation buffer installed provides benefits to Ohio’s water resources.

As a producer, every time you must make a decision regarding the type of production system you will use on your farming operation, the system you select is influenced by a variety of factors. These include such things as profitability, risk, management efficiency, stewardship, markets and government programs. Increasingly, society is asking today's producers to balance environmental concerns with economic concerns.

In general, the agricultural community is made up of individuals who are humble by nature and are not comfortable with bringing attention to themselves. We need to learn to celebrate our successes, blow our own horns, pat ourselves on the back and sing our own praises. There is an important message to tell. "Agriculture benefits Ohio water resources." If we do not send the message, no one else will.