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Organizers hope a new voluntary conservation program will do for crop producers what the Livestock Environmental Assurance Program has done for livestock farmers – enhance the environment while acknowledging the need for profit.

The Ohio Agricultural Environmental Assurance Alliance is a Core 4 Conservation alliance and is a public-private partnership consisting of producer-led organizations, commodity groups, agricultural businesses, government agencies and Ohio State University. The alliance was established to develop an environmental self-assessment program for Ohio’s agricultural and horticultural commodities and the lands on which they are grown, according to Larry Antosch, OFBF director of environmental research. Antosch has been involved in the planning process for the alliance since the idea was first conceived several years ago.

The four goals of the alliance’s self-assessment are to help producers ensure better soil, cleaner water, greater profits and a brighter future.

While the livestock program specifically targets livestock producers, the alliance hopes to attract attention from farmers with pasture, wood and cropland, Antosch said.

Several pilot programs will be held this fall and winter to allow developers to field test the materials that have been developed. Once those materials are fine-tuned, 15 or more workshops will be scheduled throughout 2004 to introduce landowners to the self-assessment tools. The self-assessment was developed through a grant from the Ohio Environmental Education Fund, Antosch said.

The workshops will entail two sessions. The first will explain how the assessment works, why it's important and how to use it. Then producers will have two to three weeks to complete the assessments of their operations. The second portion of each workshop calls for the producers to bring their findings back to a panel of resource professionals who will help the producer evaluate assessment results and, if necessary, develop plans to solve any issues discovered.

By the time both portions of each workshop are completed, producers will have a conservation plan developed for their farms, Antosch said.

The major issues being targeted through the self-assessment process are the transport of sediment, nutrients and pesticides to surface water and the transport of nutrients and pesticides to ground water, Antosch explained.

Officials from the Natural Resource Conservation Service helped in developing the tools so that "a producer could use it to make sure he or she is eligible to participate in the conservation provisions of the 2002 Farm Bill," Antosch said.

"We’re hoping landowners will get behind this project," Antosch said. "It’s a positive thing that agriculture is doing to address some of these environmental issues. And I think it proves that Ohio farmers really are naturally resourceful."

Members of the alliance are the Agricultural Conservation Innovation Center, Conservation Technology Information Center, Land Stewards, Monsanto, NRCS, Ohio AgriBusiness Association, Ohio Certified Crop Adviser Program, Ohio Corn Growers, Ohio Department of Agriculture, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, OFBF, Ohio Fruit Growers, Ohio No-Till Council, Ohio Soybean Association and Ohio Soybean Council, OSU Extension, Ohio Vegetable and Potato Growers and Syngenta Crop Protection.

For information, call 614-246-8262.