The rich agricultural history of the Western Lake Erie Basin has taken its toll on the land’s soil health. Consequently, the fertilizers used today to keep fields productive and provide essential nutrients to crops are also helping fuel the lake’s infamous and harmful algal blooms.
But researchers led by Jennifer Blesh, associate professor of environment and sustainability in the School for Environment and Sustainability, are working with farmers to reset that first domino and keep it from falling — or at least to minimize its impact — without compromising crop yields.
With a new $4 million grant from the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the team is investigating farm management practices to restore soil health.
In addition to reducing the need for fertilizers, these approaches should also help extract carbon dioxide from the air and store it in the soil. The grant is part of Michigan’s Healthy Climate Initiative and is funded by the Agricultural Nutrient Best Management Voluntary Practices Pilot Program.
“There are a lot of potential win-wins,” Blesh said. “We’re working to restore soil to retain nutrients, and that will be even more important as climate change increases the need for farms to be more resilient.”
Joining Blesh on the project are Vincent Denef, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology in LSA, and Brendan O’Neill, an assistant research scientist in SEAS, and an adjunct lecturer in environment and sustainability and the Program in the Environment.
Other researchers involved are Jeremiah Asher and Christine Sprunger of Michigan State University, Julie Doll of Michigan Agriculture Advancement, and Tom Zimnicki of the Alliance for the Great Lakes.
They’re working with a select group of farmers in the basin to better understand the links between soil health and nutrient loss. That knowledge will inform how implementing different conservation practices in fields can best plug those leaks.
“Understanding soil health indicators helps our farmers implement the best management practices for their land and effectively reduce the amount of nutrient loss leaving the farm field and making its way into the Western Lake Erie Basin — all of which fundamentally impacts our state’s water quality,” said Tim Boring, director of MDARD.
