Quote Originally Posted by troy1976 View Post
thats funny i sell about 10 tons a year of 50 lb bags of residential fertilizer that is 15-15-15, 6-24-24, 16-8-8, 9-23-30. THe first number is nitrogen, the second is PHOSPHORUS, and the third is potassium. Go to wal mart and see what the analysis is on the bags of fertilizer. most of them contain phosphorus. Andersons fertilizer plant in Maumee bags thousands of tons of residential fertilizer a year and most of it contains phosphorus. Stop by their store and see for yourself.

Again I am not throwing stones. THe ag community definitely puts its share in the rivers, but come on...Every study is only as good as who is funding it. If the government is funding it, then it will point in one direction, if farmers fund it, it will point another direction, if the city funds it it will point in another direction still. It is almost impossible to get an unbiased opinion.

I can point you towards farmers that are very aware of their "footprints" and are very on the edge of technologies and practices that help reduce unwanted runoff. I can also point you to farmers that knowingly do things that are not good practice in relation to fertilizer runoff.

THis is my last comment on this issue, again please don't take it the wrong way, but also don't say things that are not true. There are two sides to every situation, and usually when something is wrong it takes more than one problem to cause major blooms such as we saw two years ago.

Troy, you are right on many counts. Certainly the ag community is stepping up and you are 100% correct...there are many many farmers that are on the cutting edge doing the very best and looking for even better new practices and technology. And there are some others that knowingly do things that are not good practices. Same as in every profession or walk of life...mechanics, salesmen, you name the profession. So Ag has no corner on that. And at times many external factors and our economic system push people to do things they don't want to do if there was a better option.

But it is true that for every acre of urban or suburban land that drains into Western Erie, there is roughly 6 aces of ag land. Farmers are not losing much per acre, the challenge is there are so many acres into such a small shallow western end and most of those acres are ag compared to other uses. That's why the farm commodity groups recently put $1million of their own dollars out of their pockets into research to help solve the problem, through a partnership with the Federal Government and the University.

It is also true though that the phosphorus has come out of a majority of lawn fertilizers, including the custom lawn services. Scotts has the lions share of the lawn care market in Ohio, and they have removed it from theirs. Andersons actually has done likewise for their lawn blend, there is a whole pallet of their name brand at my local elevator, because I looked at it out of curiosity. It's phos free. And I bought phosphorus free fertilizer at Walmart about a month ago. Sure there is triple 15 blends out there...but it is getting harder to find and is now being marketed as garden fertilizer and that is intended use.

It is also true that cities are stepping up and spending billions on waste treatment plants over next several years. My own sewer bills have doubled because our small town separated our sewers.

I agree...bottom line is that it is up to all of us....farmers, homeowners, cities.... to do our own part instead of pointing our fingers at others.

I would disagree though on one thing....it is possible to find lots of unbiased studies. Most good research is subject to rigorous peer review by other scientists. And in August, State of Ohio will come out with it's second report of the Phos Study Task Force II with findings and recommendations. That has been a year long process and has involved many ag organizations, environmental groups, scientists and government officials meeting together. Study that when it is released and you will find a lot of what we know, and need to do, is becoming clearer. We just need the will for all of us to roll up our sleeves and go to work putting those things into practice.

Good fishing... always enjoy your reports!