The Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) has announced that the Canadian Agricultural Partnership has granted $500,000 for UTRCA staff and local certified crop advisors to work closely with landowners and plant cover crops within a subwatershed of Medway Creek.

The upper Medway Creek watershed will host this project over the next three years. UTRCA staff will work with farmers in the western part of the study area to plant cover crops on approximately 2,000 acres of farmland.

The project will assess how effective cover crops are at reducing phosphorus losses on a large scale. Water quality will be monitored to determine the impact of cover crops on nutrient loads in the creek.

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“Most of the phosphorus losses from agricultural fields are happening over the non-growing season,” UTRCA conservation services Brad Glasman said in a release. “Implementing best management practices that target this period is crucial for improving water quality in the Thames River and Lake Erie.”

This project is funded in part through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative. The Agricultural Adaptation Council assists in the delivery of the partnership in Ontario.