COLUMBUS, Ohio—The H2Ohio farmer incentive program is expanding into 10 additional counties in the Western Lake Erie Basin (WLEB), according to a recent announcement by Ohio Gov. Michael DeWine and ODA Director Dorothy Pelanda.

This program offers to fund farmers who implement proven conservation practices. It’s now open to farmers in Seneca, Huron, Erie, Wyandot, Richland, Shelby, Sandusky, Marion, Ottawa, and Crawford Counties. The goal is to limit phosphorus runoff, the primary factor in harmful algal blooms, in Lake Erie. 

Ohio’s new bipartisan operating budget provides $120 million over the next two years to continue and expand funding to farmers who work to reduce phosphorus runoff. 

“We are entering year three of the original program for H2Ohio,” said Pelanda. “We had the 14 counties of what we call the Lower Maumee River basin focusing on water quality efforts. We offered about $40 an acre to farmers to engage in one or more practices designed to keep nutrients and water on the land.”

That program is showing signs of success, Pelanda said. The best science and data show that within the first year farmers have been able to reduce phosphorous loading in the Maumee basin by 10 percent. Eighteen hundred farmers enrolled more than 1 million acres of cropland in that initial program.

“What that tells us is that we’re doing the right things now we just need to get more acreage involved in this program,” she said. “Our goal is to enroll about 600,000 acres in these additional 10 counties. The program is different in that we recognized, as we progressed through the original 14 counties, the importance and critical nature of a nutrient management plan.”

A nutrient management plan portions out the available manure nutrients in a way that maximizes the economic benefit of the nutrients while minimizing their environmental impact.

During the first year only the producers will be paid to create a nutrient management plan with the idea that small grains and some cover crops will also be offered then, Pelanda said. Thereafter, when ODA has been assured that these producers have the nutrient management plan in place, the other practices that were offered to the original 14 counties will be offered in Phase Two of this new program. 

“As we rolled out the program in the 14 counties we realized that some producers were proceeding with some of the practices without having that nutrient management plan in place first,” Pelanda explained. “So we learned a lot of good things about the initial program to make it better and more effective as we roll out the program in these new counties.”

Enrollment in the program begins in July. There will be various deadlines. ODA is hosting a series of virtual meetings for the 10 newly eligible counties explaining the program and how to enroll.

The meetings will be held:

*July 28 6:00 p.m.

*July 29 1:00p.m.

The meetings will be held via Microsoft Teams. More information about the meetings including links to join can be found at h2.ohio.gov. 

Pelanda also praised ODA’s partnership with the Ohio Agricultural Conservation Initiative (OACI). This is a group of individuals representing the Farm Bureau, the commodities, and the environmental groups around the state of Ohio, who have come together to help make H2Ohio a success.

“They have been invaluable in making this program a success and we will continue to seek their input and advice and counsel as we move forward with this program,” Pelanda said.