Grant assists in fertilizer containment

BUCYRUS, Ohio – The Ohio Department of Agriculture, in coordination with the Soil and Water Conservation Districts and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, has been awarded a $100,000 Ohio Lake Erie Commission grant to assist in the construction of secondary containment facilities for fertilizer and pesticide storage tanks in the Lake Erie Watershed.

Regulations. Current regulations require all “existing” on-farm fertilizer storage over 5,000 gallons must be diked prior to Jan. 1, 2007. Also, all “newly constructed” on-farm fertilizer storage over 5,000 gallons must currently be diked. This cost share program will assist farmers in the Lake Erie Watershed to construct new secondary containment storage for bulk fertilizers and pesticides.

The Ohio Department of Agriculture will work with the Crawford SWCD/NRCS to provide technical assistance to participating farms. The program will pay up to 70 percent of the cost of construction to farmers who are awarded cost-share monies with a maximum amount of $2,500 per farmer. Only farms within the Lake Erie Watershed are eligible to participate in this program.

All applications for this program must be submitted to the Crawford SWCD/NRCS office by Dec. 31. All construction for this program must be completed by Sept. 1, 2004.

Learn more. Interested producers may contact the Crawford SWCD/NRCS office at 419-562-8280 for more information or to receive an application.