One of the components of recently approved Senate Bill 2, signed into law by Gov. John Kasich in July, helps streamline work being done to help protect the water quality of Lake Erie by giving more oversight to the Lake Erie Commission.

“It will give the commission more authority to coordinate some state programs to make sure agencies aren’t duplicating efforts,” said Tony Seegers, OFBF director of state policy. “The commission will have the ability to be a clearinghouse of information and data. It will be helpful to have a lead agency coordinate efforts.”

Helping in the effort to improve the water quality of Lake Erie is a priority issue for Ohio Farm Bureau. Seegers noted Farm Bureau’s involvement in both Senate Bill 1, which prohibits nutrient applications on frozen, snow-covered and saturated fields in the Western Lake Erie Basin, and Senate Bill 150, the state’s fertilizer applicator certification program in efforts to reduce phosphorus in Lake Erie’s western basin 40 percent by 2025. The work being done on edge-of-field research through the Blanchard River Demonstration Farms Network in the Western Lake Erie Basin is another example, he said.

“Farm Bureau and the ag community have been at the forefront of reducing nutrient runoff,” he said. “We have a part to play in this issue. Everyone wants clean water.”

Heavy algal bloom forecast

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and its research partners predicted western Lake Erie would experience a significant harmful algal bloom this summer, though not as large as the record bloom in 2015.

Heavy downpours this spring and summer have made preventing nutrient runoff even more challenging; however, Ohio’s farm community continues to take aggressive action to protect Lake Erie and all of Ohio’s waterways from nutrient runoff that contributes to harmful algal blooms. The agricultural community has made great progress since the Lake Erie crisis in 2014.

A recent study found agricultural soil phosphorus levels held steady or trended downward in at least 80 percent of Ohio counties from 1993 through 2015. The study by Ohio State University researchers looked at more than 2 million phosphorus soil tests. In 2015 the median soil phosphorus level was within the appropriate agronomic range in 87 of 88 Ohio counties.

Labor has always been an issue, mainly because we are a seasonal operation. So that's a challenge finding somebody who only wants to work three months out of a year, sometimes up to six months.
Mandy Way's avatar
Mandy Way

Way Farms

Farm Labor Resources
I appreciate the benefit of having a strong voice in my corner. The extras that are included in membership are wonderful, but I'm a member because of the positive impact to my local and state agricultural communities.
Ernie Welch's avatar
Ernie Welch

Van Wert County Farm Bureau

Strong communities
I see the value and need to be engaged in the community I live in, to be a part of the decision-making process and to volunteer with organizations that help make our community better.
Matt Aultman's avatar
Matt Aultman

Darke County Farm Bureau

Leadership development
Farm Bureau involvement has taught me how to grow my professional and leadership experience outside of the workforce and how to do that in a community-centric way.
Jaclyn De Candio's avatar
Jaclyn De Candio

Clark County Farm Bureau

Young Ag Professionals program
With not growing up on a farm, I’d say I was a late bloomer to agriculture. I feel so fortunate that I found the agriculture industry. There are so many opportunities for growth.
Jenna Gregorich's avatar
Jenna Gregorich

Coshocton County Farm Bureau

Growing our Generation
Knowing that horticulture is under the agriculture umbrella and having Farm Bureau supporting horticulture like it does the rest of ag is very important.
Jared Hughes's avatar
Jared Hughes

Groovy Plants Ranch

Groovy Plants Ranch
If it wasn't for Farm Bureau, I personally, along with many others, would not have had the opportunity to meet with our representatives face to face in Washington.
Austin Heil's avatar
Austin Heil

Hardin County Farm Bureau

Washington, D.C. Leadership Experience
So many of the issues that OFBF and its members are advocating for are important to all Ohioans. I look at OFBF as an agricultural watchdog advocating for farmers and rural communities across Ohio.
Mary Smallsreed's avatar
Mary Smallsreed

Trumbull County Farm Bureau

Advocacy
Suggested Tags: