Farmer’s take measures to clean up water

FARMERS BELIEVE THEY ARE tied up in enough red tape already, and really don’t want any level of government imposing more restrictions or rules on their operations.

As well, they are keenly aware that the public is keeping a closer eye on them than ever. They know it’s actions, not words, that will convince the public, and hopefully governments, that they are acting responsibly.

Farmers can continue asking age-old rhetorical questions about why the public would ever think they would be insensitive to the environment when they and their families actually live where they work. These are good questions, but I get a feeling that the way our what’s-in-it-for-me society has evolved, logic doesn’t carry as much weight as it used to.

The matter remains though: how do farmers figure ways to produce food that renders them a profit, while keeping regulators and the public satisfied that they’re farming responsibility?

One example emerged recently as a result of the

environment ministry’s keen interest in the Great Lakes, and the way farming practices contribute to phosphorus and algal blooms in the southwestern Ontario watershed and Lake Erie.

Farm groups got together more than a year ago, said they were going to take leadership addressing the problem, work collaboratively with others, and now have. They’ve formed the Thames River Phosphorus Reduction Collaborative, focused on the agriculturally significant Thames River, which flows through the heart of farmland in southwestern Ontario.

This collaborative group will develop innovative tools, practices and technologies to reduce phosphorus entering into southwestern Ontario waterways.

Here’s the situation, as described by the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, one of the participants.

The Great Lakes is the largest freshwater system on Earth, holding 20 per cent of the planet’s fresh water. A new plan, The Domestic Action Plan, is being proposed by the federal and Ontario governments to reduce phosphorus levels in Lake Erie.

The plan has huge implications for farmers. It targets a 40 per cent reduction in the total phosphorus entering Lake Erie, and supports initiatives developed between Canada and the U.S. targeting a 40 per cent phosphorus level reduction by 2025.

Excess phosphorous from U.S. and Canadian sources that runs into municipal drains can promote the growth of algal blooms in downstream water bodies, like Lake Erie. Indeed, the western basin on Lake Erie has experienced several algal bloom incidents in recent years, disrupting the ecosystem, causing the closure of beaches and resulting in a ban on city drinking water in Toledo, Ohio.

The Thames River collaborative group says it will create tools and practices for farmers to address circumstances such as run-off from excessive rainfall that contribute to the problem.

The group has already gathered best practices from around the world and is looking into how they can be applied in Ontario. The federation is working with similar groups organized across the province to evaluate agronomic practices to reduce nutrient loss.

The federation notes that Ontario farmers are already implementing best management practices, nutrient stewardship principles, growing cover crops and timing nutrient applications to reduce phosphorus loads in watersheds. Environmental stewardship is not new to farmers.

But it also acknowledges its responsibility.

“We all have a role to play in phosphorus reduction and progressive environmental stewardship. As farmers, we take our role seriously,” says federation vice-president Mark Reusser. He says the federation “will continue working with groups like the Thames River Phosphorus Reduction Collaborative to address phosphorus entering waterways from Ontario farms, improve agricultural practices and preserve the health of our land and water.”

That’s the way to win public confidence. Take measures, and then show how they’re helping. People want, and need, to hear from farmers.