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Michigan ag director says Lake Erie projects will focus on outcomes

The director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development says the state is collaborating with partners in Indiana, Ohio, and Ontario to develop science-based approaches addressing water quality in Lake Erie.

Tim Boring tells Brownfield Michigan is committed to seeing more meaningful reductions of phosphorus into Lake Erie.

“We’ve made some significant investments into water quality monitoring, the advancement of science research through some work with the University of Michigan Soil Health Laboratory,” he explains. “We’ve recently announced some significant work with Michigan State University’s Institute of Water Research around structuring some incentive payment programs that are directly correlated to phosphorus loss reduction.”

He says targeted projects in the Western Lake Erie Basin are focusing on outcomes.

“So that we can best understand where some of these higher levels of phosphorus are occurring in the landscape, working with farmers to deliver improved technical capacity, some incentive payments that are directly correlated to the implementation of practices that reduce the amount of phosphorus,” he says.

Boring says agriculture has an important role to play in improving water quality management and helping reduce phosphorus in Lake Erie by 40 percent.

Brownfield interviewed Boring during the recent State of the Western Lake Erie Basin Conference in Michigan.