H2Ohio Wraps Up for 2023 Program Year
In H2Ohio, verifications for one year of the program don’t wrap up until halfway through the next. That is why we are sharing 2023’s impact instead of 2024’s.
The Ohio Department of Agriculture designated over $2.7 million for Richland County farmers in H2Ohio. 2023 appropriated cost share alone totaled nearly $700,000.
Our participating farmers worked hard in 2023 as you can see from the impact infographics below.
Overall, H2Ohio farmers received north of $320,000 in cost share last year. The total cost share paid to date totals over $700,000.
As we look ahead to the coming years we are excited to announce that 11 new producers were signed up for H2Ohio this year! This brings the total cropland acres enrolled through Richland County to 25,500, the most we have had since the program began!
All numbers are approximate
For more information on H2Ohio, visit these links!
Agriculture Best Management Practice Highlight: Grassed Waterways
Ever pass a farm field and wonder why a seemingly random strip of grass runs through the middle of it? Chances are, you are looking at a grassed waterway.
When a whole field is tilled and planted, there may be areas where two hill slopes come together (called a swale). When it rains, water will naturally flow to these swales and eventually to a stream or creek.
In conventional cropping and tillage systems, these areas can erode into gullies and are difficult or impossible to cross with farm equipment. Furthermore, they will continue to erode as water carries the soil away.
Grassed waterways are engineered, shallow grassed channels designed to handle concentrated water flows. The grass slows water down so it is less likely to carve gullies and the grass’s roots help keep the soil in place.
If you think your field could benefit from a grassed waterway or two, we can help. Give our office a call at 419-747-8686.
Seeing Conservation in Action
Over the spring/summer, Richland SWCD technicians helped our USDA-NRCS partners by performing practice check-outs. In other words, these practices were completed and needed to be verified that they were done correctly. As a result, our technicians saw some conservation practices in action!
Technicians verified 7 acres of Grassed Waterways, 4 acres of Quail Buffer, 5 acres of Hardwood Tree Planting, and 25 acres of Tall Grass Prairie. The practices our technicians verified encompass nearly 40 acres and are helping to reduce soil erosion and promote wildlife habitat and diversity.
The United States Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) offers and administers a wide variety of voluntary, cost-shared conservation practices for farmers to implement on their land and homestead.
Richland SWCD technicians assist USDA-NRCS with technical assistance and administrative efforts and are available to help producers interested in programs and practices offered in Richland County. Our technicians also assist those who do not wish to be enrolled in government programs but want to implement conservation practices.