It’s time for farmers to prove their love of the land, and state legislators to stand their ground.
After nearly half a million people in the region were warned not to drink their water for a three-day
period last summer, public officials and the agricultural community came together to look for ways to
prevent that from happening again.
But that strong teamwork has weakened in the last few weeks.
Immediately after the water crisis, regional farmers professed their commitment to be good stewards of
the land – but to some, that concern seems to stop at their property lines. The Ohio EPA reported last
week it was investigating more than a dozen farm manure spills that have seeped into waterways.
Most of the manure spills reported to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency have been linked to
farmers who put livestock waste on frozen and snow-covered fields, according to the Associated Press.

That is particularly frustrating since that process was identified as one of the causes for the heavy
algae blooms in Lake Erie last summer.
Spreading manure on fields is acceptable if it serves its purpose of fertilizing the soil. But if the
sole purpose is to avoid the expense of storing the manure – that’s just not right.
In an effort to reduce the runoff that feeds algae blooms, State Senator Randy Gardner, R-Bowling Green,
rallied support for a bill banning the practice of spreading waste on frozen fields.
But the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation told AP that an outright ban on spreading manure in the winter would
be costly for farmers who lacked storage for it.
Perhaps they aren’t aware of the costs incurred last summer when more than 400,000 area citizens couldn’t
drink or cook with their water. Or the costs of the businesses that had to shut down temporarily because
the water wasn’t safe. Or the costs to local governments that had to find other water sources for their
customers.
It’s time for state agricultural officials to give a little tough love to their profession.
"It’s a little surprising after having all of the discussion over the past year and hearing that
it’s not best management practice to do this," Ohio EPA Director Craig Butler told the Associated
Press about the practice of spreading manure on frozen fields.
Reputable agriculture officials agree.
So does Gardner, who introduced the bill banning the spreading of manure on frozen fields or when heavy
rain is in the immediate forecast. The ban passed the Senate, but was watered down in the House with a
bill that would allow farmers to avoid penalties for applying manure on frozen fields if they ask
officials for help developing a solution for getting rid of the manure.
The Ohio Farm Bureau Federation announced support of the House legislation since it will allow farmers
time to come into compliance.
But the House version lacks the teeth needed to help keep Lake Erie from going green again, since it
would be very hard to levy fines to farming operations that break the law.
"Some people believe that their provisions would basically exempt anyone in the Western Lake Erie
Basin from ever having a violation," Gardner told the Sentinel-Tribune last week.
So that means we have to rely on that sense of land stewardship that may not extend to the shores of Lake
Erie. From the EPA’s reports of more than a dozen manure spills already this year, that’s obviously not
good enough.
It’s time for state leaders to stand their ground, and farmers to show soil and water the respect they
deserve.