First Three Facilities Certified in 4R Nutrient Stewardship Program

Agriculture taking measurable steps toward improving Lake Erie water quality

Less than a year after its launch, the 4R Nutrient Stewardship Certification Program has announced its first three agriculture nutrient service providers to achieve certified status.

The voluntary certification program is a concentrated effort by the agriculture industry to significantly reduce and prevent applied nutrients from running off fields, which has contributed to harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie, such as the one responsible for the shutdown of Toledo’s water supply in early August.

The three facilities achieving certification to date include:

• Legacy Farmers Cooperative - Custar, Ohio facility
• Morral Companies, LLC - Caledonia, Ohio facility
• The Andersons, Inc. - Fremont, Ohio facility.

“We’re proud to be recognizing the first 4R Nutrient Stewardship Certification Program certified facilities,” said Chris Henney, president and CEO of the Ohio AgriBusiness Association, which serves as the administrator of the program. “By participating in the 4R Nutrient Stewardship Certification Program, these facilities have proven their commitment to the long-term improvement of Lake Erie’s water quality.”

The program certifies that individuals and entities in the Western Lake Erie Basin that sell, apply or make recommendations on how fertilizers should be applied to crops are doing so in accordance with 4R Nutrient Stewardship principles - which refers to using the Right Source of Nutrients at the Right Rate and Right Time in the Right Place. Applicants must go through an audit and demonstrate they not only understand 4R principles, but also follow them.

“These three facilities alone service approximately 270 farmers and 180,000 acres that are implementing the 4Rs of nutrient stewardship, keeping the fertilizer in the fields to grow more crops, not algae,” said Carrie Vollmer-Sanders, Western Lake Erie Basin project director for The Nature Conservancy and chair of the Nutrient Stewardship Council, which guides the program.

“It is amazing how proficiently we can act when a diverse set of stakeholders work openly together toward a common goal to implement science-based solutions to big issues like Lake Erie’s water quality,” said Vollmer-Sanders. “We hope farmers across the basin work with their nutrient service provider to become certified and manage their farm fields to increase soil health and reduce nutrients and soil from leaving the fields.”

More certified facilities are expected soon, with approximately 50 facilities servicing more than 1 million acres in the Lake Erie Watershed in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio signed up for the program. Research, led by the USDA-Agricultural Research Service, will evaluate the certification program on the triple bottom line of sustainability - people, planet and profit.

The 4R Nutrient Stewardship Certification Program is governed and guided by the Nutrient Stewardship Council, a diverse set of stakeholders from business, government, university and non-governmental sectors with a common goal of maintaining agricultural productivity while also improving the quality of Lake Erie and its contributing watersheds. The program is administered by the Ohio AgriBusiness Association. For more information, visit 4Rcertified.org, email info@oaba.net or call 614-326-7520.

Releases about the individual facilities receiving certification, and related photos can be found at www.4Rcertified.org/news.