Protecting our Great Lakes: Ontario producers work together to reduce phosphorus in Lake Erie

Feb 26, 2018

Governments highlight multiple industry initiatives in recent Action Plan

Staff Reporter

Farms.com

The federal and provincial governments called on the agricultural community to help protect Ontario’s freshwater through the final Lake Erie Action Plan on Thursday.

Overall, the government aims to reduce the amount of phosphorus entering Lake Erie by 40 per cent, according to Thursday’s news release.

“I am pleased that Ontario's agriculture sector continues to be a leader in identifying and implementing ways to reduce phosphorus entering our Great Lakes,” the Honourable Jeff Leal, Ontario’s minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs, said in the release. “By working together with our partners, Ontario will continue to address this vital environmental matter.”

The plan includes a mix of over 120 mandatory and voluntary actions for the government and its partners. Each of these actions falls under one of five categories:

- Category A: reduce phosphorus loadings

o The governments will support such initiatives as a program “that provides $4.1 million over four years in financial support for projects demonstrating effectiveness of BMPs (best management practices) and/or innovative approaches to reducing phosphorus loads to Lake Erie.”

- Category B: ensure effective policies, programs and legislation

o This year, the provincial government will review Ontario’s “rural stormwater and agricultural drainage management using an integrated watershed approach.”

- Category C: improve the knowledge base

o “Ontario will continue to leverage government research programs and initiatives to fund needed research and new technologies to test and improve agricultural BMPs for phosphorus reduction.”

- Category D: educate and build awareness

o The governments will work with the agricultural industry to “develop and deliver information and tools to increase cover crop use in the non-growing season to improve soil health and reduce field runoff.”

- Category E: strengthen leadership and co-ordination

o Under this category, the governments will work with groups “to enhance the current level of co-ordination by clarifying (the involved parties’) roles and responsibilities (regarding phosphorus reduction), as well as by strengthening the effectiveness of existing committees and other governance structures.”

Farms.com has reached out to Grow Ontario Together, a collaboration of organizations within the industry, for comment.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.