Farmers enrolled in Governor Mike DeWine’s H2Ohio initiative are using innovative solutions to plant overwintering cover crops before Nov. 1, 2021.

Due to a late harvest and adverse weather conditions, the Ohio Department of Agriculture extended the deadline for planting overwintering cover crops and completing all manure incorporation requirements to Nov. 1, 2021.

Watch Jeff Duling, a Putnam County producer enrolled in H2Ohio, show how he creatively seeds his cover crops by dropping them from planes.

In the 10-county H2Ohio expansion area, 800 producers enrolled 600,000 acres in the program. These applications represent nearly $11.5 million in H2Ohio practice incentives and approximately 36 percent of the cropland in the project area.

Enrollment in the 10-county Western Lake Erie Basin (WLEB) expansion area closed on October 15. Enrollment in the original 14-county area was reopened and remains open until Jan. 15, 2022.

Producers can contact their local Soil and Water Conservation District for information.

H2Ohio is a collaborative water quality effort to provide clean and safe water to Ohio. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Ohio Department of Agriculture, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, and Ohio Lake Erie Commission each have a significant role in H2Ohio through the natural infrastructure of wetlands, the reduction of nutrient runoff, and the increase in access to clean drinking water and quality sewer systems. To learn more, visit h2.ohio.gov.

Media is welcome to use portions of the video for broadcast use.

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