A new project is studying how auctions in Northwest Ohio can be used to pay corn and soybean producers for adopting agricultural best management practices (BMPs) that improve water quality. As part of this research project, we will host the Fulton-Tiffin Watershed BMP Auction. Through the auction, we will pay corn and soybean producers in Fulton County who farm within the Tiffin River Watershed to adopt new BMPs that reduce the amount of phosphorus that enters the Tiffin River and flows into Lake Erie. Reducing excess phosphorus improves our water quality and limits the frequency and size of algal blooms. For more information, please visit our website at www.FultonTiffinBMpAuction.org.
Growers can bid to adopt, 1) cover crops, 2) Filter strips, and /or 3) subsurface drainage control structures. Bids are confidential and will be accepted from July 21 to Sept. 30, 2014. Project researchers will evaluate bids and select projects that reduce the most phosphorus runoff per dollar until our budget runs out. Funding will be provided for new BMPs, not ones that are already used on a specific field. Bid packets can be picked up from the SWCD Office or printed from the auction website. To have a bid packet mailed to you, please call or email Leah Harris (Phone: 804-357-8510; Email: leahmh@msu.edu).
There will be an information meeting on Thursday, July 24th from 8:30am-9:30am at the Clover Room of the Robert Fulton Agriculture Center, 8770 State Route 108, Wauseon, OH. Please RSVP to Scott Swinton at (517) 353-7218.