Ohio is included in newly announced federal projects designed to test better ways of managing agricultural water and nutrients. For Logan County farmers, the developments offer research to follow as technology moves from collecting field information toward helping producers decide where equipment and conservation investments might pay off.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Oct. 23 that it is investing $65 million in 34 Conservation Innovation Grants projects. The program supports development and evaluation of conservation approaches on working lands. An award finances that work; it does not establish that a proposed technology has already delivered the intended results.

One project led by Michigan State University lists Ohio alongside Michigan, North Carolina and Iowa. The federal award listing assigns it approximately $1.95 million to develop tools for locating, designing and implementing drainage water recycling systems. The work will examine water movement and economics and improve modeling of nitrogen movement.

A separate project led by Aquatic Agriculture Inc. includes Ohio among eight participating states. Its approximately $1.98 million award supports testing a mobile nutrient recovery system for livestock lagoon slurry. The proposed equipment separates material into a solid fertilizer rich in phosphorus and water retaining nitrogen available to plants.

Neither listing identifies a Logan County farm as a project site. The awards also should not be read as open offers of equipment or payments to every interested producer. Questions about participation would need to go to the project partners, with eligibility and locations confirmed before any farm makes plans.

Drainage water recycling already has an Ohio demonstration history. Ohio State University’s Lima campus described a retention pond and irrigation system during its 2024 field day coverage. The pond, with a reported capacity of 5.5 million gallons, collects water that can later be applied to crops through a center pivot system…READ MORE…