(WTOL) - To keep Lake Erie as clean as possible, work must be done to keep the nutrients and phosphorus used in farms in the soil.
Several farmers brought their questions and years of experience to the water quality forum in Otsego.
"So where I personally focus on, is I want to try to limit the volume of the manure that I produce every year," said Van Wert County hog farmer Meindert VanDenHengel.
The Ohio Farmers Union put a panel of experts on the stage at the forum to explain how agriculture effect what flows into the Maumee River watershed and Lake Erie.
The panel also tried to come up with solutions to determine how farmers can reach a 40 percent reduction in phosphorus loading by 2020.
"But we know that we have to find ways to up our game a little bit and along with everybody else in the watershed to try to make sure that we can get to that goal," said Joe Logan, president of the Ohio Farmers Union.
Gary Grimm has a farm in nearby Weston. He has a three-quarter acre farm pond that he makes sure he is not making the problem worse.
"And I have a service drain going into it and field tile and that's how I fill the pond," Grimm said. "I do not have an algae bloom on that and if the fertilizer is getting off there, I should have an algae bloom and it's just as clear as can be."
Many other farmers stood up to ask questions to panel. They said they want to be a part of the solution so the federal government does not order new regulations.
