Building relationships with non-traditional cooperators in the Western Lake Erie Basin

Session: Great Lakes Outreach and Education (1)

Jennifer Thum, Indiana State Department of Agriculture, [email protected]

Abstract

The Western Lake Erie Basin (WLEB) has the highest percentage of cultivated crops and is the most significant contributor of suspended sediments to Lake Erie. As nutrients continue to affect Lake Erie, cooperators in our area are continuously under scrutiny, so at times they feel like they are farming in a fishbowl. There has been a call for a reduction of phosphorus inputs to Lake Erie to reduce the frequency and severity of harmful algal blooms. The Indiana Conservation Partnership has led the charge with working with traditional and non-traditional landowners, which has been through educational events. While we do educational events like field days, pasture walks, and develop educational materials. Recently, we have focused our efforts on working with our Amish. We have constructed community lagoons, offered soil and manure sampling, developed educational materials, rent no-till equipment that can be pulled by horses. We champion soil health and look at conservation farming from a systems approach. Our efforts with the traditional and non-traditional are working. In 2017, we reduced over 134,000,000 lbs of sediment, 79,000 lbs of phosphorus, and over 162,000 lbs of nitrogen. While we offer voluntary programs to address the WLEB, it will take education/outreach programs to get the conservation onto the ground. 

Twitter handle of presenter
@FWThum