UTRCA announces Thames River Phosphorus Reduction program

(Contributed Image)

Nancy Abra, Echo Contributor

The Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) recently announced the Thames River Phosphorus Reduction program.

This is a new, four-year program that offers incentives for cover crops, reducing tillage, 4R practices, manure management, as well as cost-share rates for a variety of practices. In their promotion of this program, UTRCA said there are several practices that can reduce losses of phosphorus such as using cover crops, reducing tillage to prevent soil erosion and the loss of soil bound phosphorus.

They also said applying 4R practices – right source at the right rate, right time and right place – limits excess phosphorus in the soil and confines the risk of losses. Shifting manure applications to and on the fields will also lower soil phosphorus levels. Windbreaks, riparian buffers or vegetated land area and wetlands also help to hold water on the landscape and filter nutrient runoff.

This phosphorus-reduction program encompasses the Upper Thames River watershed, an area of 3,421 square kilometres, mainly rural except for the larger urban centres of London, Stratford and Woodstock. Agriculture is the main component of this area with approximately 3,600 farms, including over 2,000 livestock operations.

The Thames River Phosphorus Reduction program supports farmers and landowners in implementing agricultural best-management practices that reduce phosphorus runoff, enhancing water quality in the Thames River and Lake Erie while improving soil health and farm productivity.

The UTRCA is now accepting applications for projects completed in 2024 or planned for 2025 that incorporates and is included in the program guidelines. The UTRCA is especially interested in hearing from landowners and farmers in the areas with high phosphorus runoff including in the Gregory Creek area in north Thames Centre, the Reynolds Creek area near Putnam and in North Mitchell.

For more information on the Thames River Phosphorus Reduction program, visit thamesriver.on.ca/landowner-grants-stewardship/phosphorus-reduction-program/.