How farmers protect waterways and prevent algal blooms

Algal blooms are becoming more common, creating unsafe water conditions in New York’s lakes.

Earlier this week, algal blooms were reported in both Owasco and Cayuga Lakes. Skaneateles Lake is no stranger to algal blooms either.

Researchers have attributed the cause of the bacteria, at least in part, to runoff from fertilizers commonly applied to farmland near the lakes’ watershed.

Still, some farmers in the Finger Lakes are doing their best to protect waterways and prevent dangerous algae blooms.

Greg Rejman, owner of Sunnyside Farms in Sciopio Center, Cayuga County, farms 7,400 acres and milks about 5,000 cows. His farm is located between Owasco Lake and Cayuga Lake, on both watersheds.

“I think about a quarter of our land is in the Owasco Lake watershed, and we even have some fields on the farm that are in both watersheds,” Rejman said.

The farm has taken several measures to protect the waterways from runoff.

“Less tillage over the years and different tillage tools that don’t disturb the soil as much. We inject over 90% of our manure directly into the soil to prevent runoff,” Rejman said.

By injecting manure directly into the soil rather than layering it on top, they can maintain the soil more efficiently and effectively. When this is done, the soil immediately binds with ammonium and nitrogen, which are essential for good soil health, and prevents these nutrients from running off into waterways.

Cover crops and buffers are other tools Rejman said they have been using for more than 20 years. Most of their steep fields have been converted to permanent grass fields.

Rejman said they were able to create a total of 35 feet of buffer around Owasco Lake using just the buffers they have on their farm.

“That puts into perspective how much of a buffer we have on our farm, and there’s even more now,” he said.

Without green manures and buffers, Sunnyside would experience much more soil erosion, making the land less fertile for crops.

“Nutrients are a farmer’s greatest asset. Without them, we would be bankrupt,” Rejman said.

Kirsten Workman, a nutrient management and environmental sustainability specialist at ProDairy at Cornell University, said Sunnyside Farms is a great example of a farm helping to protect water quality.

In addition to managing runoff from the fields, Workman says Sunnyside Farms also manages runoff from their barns and other facilities.

“They manage the discharge from the barns, where they store feed, manure that comes from those cattle, where the animals are housed. And then they put all the nutrients that they collect on the farm back into the land and they do it in a very prescriptive way,” Workman said.

By doing this, their nutrient management plan ensures that each field gets exactly what it needs: not too much and not too little, Workman said.

Manure starts with what livestock eats, so there are a number of strategies farms can implement to balance what comes on the farm with what goes off.

“We look at the entire farm nutrient balance. So we look at everything that might be important to the farm and everything that is exported from the farm, and we do a huge calculation to do some checks and balances to make sure that they meet the sustainable thresholds,” Workman said.

In New York, farms with more than 300 cows (and counting) must obtain a concentrated animal feeding mill (CAFO) permit that protects water quality.

“Part of that permitting process is going through a comprehensive nutrient management planning process. In that process, you identify a whole set of (best management practices) that a farm should implement, and they are required to (do that) before they are eligible for the permit,” Workman said.

Every farm operates differently, which is an important consideration if you want them to adhere to certain regulations, Workman said.

“The power of how we get this work done is that our farms have the ability to implement what works best for their farm and their watershed in their landscape with their scale, equipment and resources,” Workman said.