About H2Ohio
H2Ohio is a water quality program that offers monetary incentives to farmers/producers for implementing conservation-focused best management practices (BMPs). The aim is to encourage producers within the Western Lake Erie Basin (WLEB) to adopt practices that will help decrease phosphorus runoff from agricultural land. Lake Erie has been the focus of this project due to the harmful algal blooms that have occurred there. In 2020, the H2Ohio program was rolled out to fourteen counties within the WLEB. In 2021, the Ohio Department of Agriculture rolled out H2Ohio to the remaining ten counties within the WLEB, Richland County being one of them!
What It Consists Of
A suite of data driven BMPs make up the program. They include: establishing cover crops, adding small grains into your crop rotation, implementation of an SWCD/ODA approved nutrient management plan, manure/fertilizer placement and rate, and drainage water management.
Why It Matters
H2Ohio is a voluntary program that offers incentives to farmers who meet the requirements for the specific BMPs. In addition to the incentives, producers have the opportunity through H2Ohio to participate in the stewardship of their natural resources, as well as the resources of Ohioans next door or downstream. Again, the goal of the program is to decrease nutrient runoff from farmland. Additionally, the H2Ohio practices may assist in increasing soil health, conserving soil nutrients, and providing opportunities to try things a little differently.
For more information, visit: https://h2.ohio.gov/about-h2ohio/.
Lake Erie CREP H2Ohio Program
The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) is a USDA Farm Bill conservation program that offers farmers and landowners financial compensation for taking cropland out of production and establishing conservation practices such as buffer strips, grasslands, and wetlands to improve water quality for a contract period of 15 years. The new H2Ohio Water Quality Incentive Program is being offered in combination with Lake Erie CREP and provides a onetime payment of $2,000 per acre for new Lake Erie CREP wetlands and forested riparian buffers (buffer strip with trees) to help improve water quality in the Lake Erie watershed. More wetlands and forested riparian buffers will help reduce phosphorus runoff into Lake Erie. Both conservation practices are on the H2Ohio top 10 list of phosphorus reduction practices.