Demo Farms Set Up To Vet Practices For Improved Lake Erie Water Quality

Drainage ditch between a field and road. (Credit: Farm and Dairy)

Researchers around the Lake Erie basin are hard at work trying to find new ways to cut the runoff making it into the lake. Among some of the steps they’re taking include setting up demo farms where they can test actions that may improve water quality in the great lake, according to Farm and Dairy.

Three of these farms have been set up through a partnership between the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation. They are collectively called the Blanchard River Demonstration Farms Network and incorporate farms from the Ohio towns of Dunkirk, Forest and McComb.

Scientists and farmers will work together to implement a number of treatments on the farms, say officials involved in the project. A clear goal is to help educate farmers, as well as others in surrounding watersheds, so that they can then put into place practices that work best on their own land.

Top image: Drainage ditch between a field and road. (Credit: Farm and Dairy)