By Laura Campbell

From education to implementation, farmers in the Western Lake Erie Basin are working to protect water quality while producing food, fuel and fiber. Here is a sample of some of the activity:

The Center for Excellence. Thousands of farmers have flocked to an annual field day for more than two decades at The Center for Excellence in Lenawee County, which showcases practices and technology to help farmers protect the environment.

Water collection and testing. To determine water quality on a farm in Hillsdale County, Jay Williams, a farmer leader in his community, has been participating in a water collection and testing program for several years. He shares those results with other farmers at a field day hosted at his farm. The U.S. Geological Survey has now added monitoring and sampling on his farm to help make the dataset more complete.

Best management signs. The Erb Family Foundation has helped farmers post signs in southern Michigan fields to point out best management practices being used by those farmers.

Water quality forums. The Lenawee County Farm Bureau and Lenawee Conservation District partnered to host a water quality forum in January to discuss Lake Erie and River Raisin issues, and to highlight the Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program used by hundreds of farmers in the Western Lake Erie watershed and thousands of farmers statewide.

Drain project discounts. Monroe and Washtenaw County drain commissioners participated in a pilot program to offer drain project discounts to farmers who install and maintain vegetated buffers along those drains, and that project now has been launched statewide in 2020.

Farmer shop talks. The River Raisin Watershed Council has helped organize a farmer-led water quality initiative, in which farmers can gather for “shop talks” to share and demonstrate conservation practices to protect water quality.

Farmers care about protecting Lake Erie and are taking steps to learn what they can do on their own farms to sharpen their stewardship abilities and together strengthen agriculture’s part in protecting water quality. Michigan Farm Bureau is a proud MI CLEAR partner and supports Michigan farmers.

Campbell is manager of the Michigan Farm Bureau Agricultural Ecology Department.

Source: Michigan Farm Bureau, which is solely responsible for the information provided and is wholly owned by the source. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset.