Researchers examine tools for farmers can use to address algae blooms
By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com
Ontario farm groups are working with other organizations as part of a newly formed group focused on reducing phosphorous runoff and algal blooms in the Thames River, which ultimately makes its way into Lake Erie.
The 24-member Thames River Phosphorous Reduction Collaborative officially launched on June 27.
The group includes the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, Grain Farmers of Ontario and Ontario Pork. Professional Drainage Engineers, Land Improvement Contractors of Ontario and the Freshwater Alliance are also participants.
Together with representatives from Ohio and Michigan, the Ontario group aims to reduce the amount of phosphorus entering Lake Erie by 40 per cent by 2025.
High levels of toxins from algae in Lake Erie forced a ban on drinking tap water in Toledo, Ohio in 2014.
Ontario’s phosphorus reduction group is working to ensure similar measures aren’t needed again.
“We’re determined to improve the quality of water in the Thames, and that means working with everyone from farmers to drainage engineers and conservation authorities to First Nations and universities to come up with practical, cost-effective water management and drainage solutions for both urban and agricultural areas,” Randy Hope, Mayor of Chatham-Kent and the project’s co-chair, said in a June 27 statement.
And if farmers are to do their part, they’re going to need the proper resources.
“We’re doing research with the goal of creating a suite of tools and practices that farmers can use to address different situations,” Mark Reusser, vice-president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, said in the statement.
The group is working to fulfill recommendations made in the Partnering in Phosphorous Control Draft Action Plan for Lake Erie, which the Federal and Ontario governments released in March.