A new film about water quality in Lake Erie skips over all of the advancements being made by farmers in northwest Ohio and beyond. Here is what is really happening and validated through research-based projects.
In April, a new documentary called “The Erie Situation” made its debut at the Cleveland International Film Festival and will likely end up on a streaming service near you soon.
The documentary is billed as “a film about the toxic mix of big agriculture, politics and water security rights.” In case you missed it, they’re talking about you and Farm Bureau, together, in what “The Erie Solution” filmmakers and activist jargon call Big Ag.
The 2014 Toledo water crisis is featured, including pictures and videos of Lake Erie from close to a decade ago that depict some of the worst water conditions the lake has ever had. The villain, of course, is Ohio agriculture. Every hit job documentary film needs a villain, by the way, and a corresponding “donate” button on its website.
Typically, a documentary shares multiple angles of a story. “The Erie Situation”, however, is one-sided and would be more suitable for The History Channel. The film skips over all of the advancements being made by farmers in northwest Ohio and beyond. Here is what is really happening and validated through research-based projects.
Launched by Gov. Mike DeWine in 2019, H2Ohio is a comprehensive water quality initiative that is working to strategically address the numerous water issues that have been building in Ohio for decades. Such problems include harmful algal blooms on Lake Erie caused by phosphorus runoff from farm fertilizer and other sources (see below); failing drinking water, wastewater, and home sewage treatment systems due to aging infrastructure; and lead contamination from old water pipes and fixtures.
After just two years into this voluntary water quality initiative, Ohio agriculture has stepped up in a big way.
Part of the enrollment process of the H2Ohio program is becoming certified with the Ohio Agriculture Conservation Initiative, which is a partnership among 18 agriculture, conservation, environmental and research groups. The mission of OACI is to recognize farmers for their dedication to advancing methods that improve water quality in Ohio and increasing the number of best management practices being implemented on farms.
Based on a newly released third-party assessment report:
The Ohio State University is the lead partner on a new five-year, multimillion-dollar pilot watershed project in northwestern Ohio designed to demonstrate that agricultural conservation practices—if used on 70% of the farmland in a watershed, and evaluated on a watershed scale—can help meet Lake Erie’s water quality goals.
Set for the mostly agricultural Shallow Run watershed in Hardin County, which is part of the larger Maumee River watershed and drains into western Lake Erie, the project aims to have farmers adopt conservation practices on 70% of the watershed’s 6,800 acres, which studies have estimated is the level of practices needed to reach Lake Erie’s 40% phosphorus reduction target. Ohio Farm Bureau is one of many farm groups supporting the project.
Phosphorus is an essential nutrient for crop production and continues to be a focus in water quality improvement efforts. The Fertilizer Institute is a consistent source for trusted information and data regarding the use of fertilizers in agriculture. According to its most recent analysis of soil test data:
According to Ohio State University Extension Agronomist Greg LeBarge, edge of field phosphorus loss concerns become more significant at around 100 parts per million levels. In 2020, there were 9% of the samples above 100 ppm. From the water quality perspective, someone looking at this will observe that if high values are a problem, simply lower them. However, some perspective on the time it may take for lower soil test values is needed. Each year with no new phosphorus added and through crop removal, soil test values may decline by around 2-3 ppm. So going from 200 ppm to 100 ppm is estimated to take 33 to 50 years.
Although Ohio agriculture accepts its share of the water quality responsibility, many other factors are adding to the issue. This is why almost all of the efforts being developed at all levels of government are diversified to address other causes, including industrial runoff, sewage overflows like the one occurring in Maumee, Ohio dispersing 150 million gallons of raw sewage into the Maumee River each of the last 20 years, and loss of wetlands and other wildlife habitat. The recently passed bipartisan infrastructure law will invest $1 billion into a Great Lakes restoration program, greatly impacting the improvement of Lake Erie on all fronts.
Weather and climate have the biggest role in reducing phosphorus load into Lake Erie. We are seeing a 50% increase in 1 inch or more rains in the last 30 years compared to the prior 30. We are also observing small areas that get huge amounts of rain, (3,4 or 5+ inches of rain in a matter of moments), making it impossible to put any measures in place to keep nutrients in the field.
Wet conditions are also reducing the time farmers have to be in the field, on average, losing five suitable field days in the spring and five more in the fall. This reduction of time makes it even harder to implement conservation practices that are outside the regular crop rotation. This is an important factor as we feel farmers get a disproportionate amount of the blame considering their conflicting relationship with Mother Nature.
Climate conditions also are playing a role at the lake, such as warming and longer summer seasons which give way to bigger algal blooms and less ice cover and snow, for example.
In the extremely wet spring of 2019, nearly 1.5 million acres, or 37.5% of would-be corn and soybean fields in the 24 Western Lake Erie Basin counties went unplanted, according to a poll conducted by Ohio State. As a result, farmers applied historically low levels of nutrients that year. Another Ohio State poll indicated that less than 15% of the normal amount of manure was applied due to the wet conditions. Despite so many tractors and acres sitting idle in the spring, the algal bloom that summer was one of the highest registered blooms since 2002. This clearly dispels the claim that severely restricting current farming practices will stop toxic algae. The proven disconnect between bloom size and nutrient use validates Ohio agriculture’s long-held view that reducing farming’s impact on water quality is a complex undertaking and that less fertilizer and less manure does not automatically equal less bloom.
Have all of these efforts on behalf of agriculture solved the algal bloom challenges in the Western Lake Erie Basin? Absolutely not. As “The Erie Situation” will point out numerous times, there is still more work to be done. Other claims in the film, like saying that progress hasn’t been made by farmers, are unconscionable and without merit. Farmers recognize their role in Ohio’s water quality endeavor and it is time for others who say they care about clean water to begin to pull their weight.
Image by KGates from Pixabay
Jay Martin discusses his Pilot Watershed Project in the Western Lake Erie Basin. He is a professor of Ecological Engineering at The Ohio State University.
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Chris Winslow from Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Laboratory discusses the status of Lake Erie, legacy phosphorus and other topics as well.
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Aaron Wilson from Ohio State University and the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center talks about short and long-term weather and climate trends and how the super El Niño will affect our region.
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Jordan Howeischer, Ohio Farm Bureau director of water quality and research, provides some history on water quality in Ohio and what the industry has accomplished since the 2014 Toledo Water shutdown.
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In response to an editorial published in Toledo Blade, Ohio Farm Bureau sent a letter sharing the decades-long commitment to conservation by Ohio farmers.
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The report provides insight into measurable progress in conservation practices and Ohio farmers’ continued commitment to water quality.
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The report provides a data-driven look at conservation practices across the Western Lake Erie Basin and emphasizes farmers are doing their part in water quality.
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Jay Martin of Ohio State and Jordan Hoewischer join the podcast to break down the recent research and advocacy efforts helping drive that progress.
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Ohio EPA has recently proposed allowing data centers to obtain ‘general’ National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits for their stormwater/wastewater discharges.
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The network was established in fall 2015 on farms in Hardin and Hancock counties. Nearly 200 different tours and events took place on the three farms totaling nearly 4,000 visitors in its 10-year span.
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