Watershed – H2Ohio

This past spring, the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) released the H2Ohio program to counties outside of the Maumee Watershed and Western Lake Erie Basin. Originally made available in 2019, Governor Mike DeWine created H2Ohio as a statewide water quality initiative designed to address the various complex issues negatively impacting Ohio’s waterways. The H2Ohio program is designed to reduce nutrient runoff by ultimately incentivizing producers to implement best management practices on the land.

By providing financial incentives, H2Ohio allows eligible producers to enroll their acreage into a Voluntary Nutrient Management Plan (VNMP) and earn a $10/acre incentive for the development of their VNMP in 2024. Being that this is a two-year program, in 2025 and 2026, producers can earn incentives of $10/acre or $15/acre for implementing the VNMP on their land.
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In Warren County, we were initially given an acreage cap of 5,000 acres to be enrolled in H2Ohio. With a large amount of interest from producers in the county, we exceeded that initial cap. Due to the large interest in H2Ohio, ODA allowed for an expansion which increased our total allowed acres. In all, Warren County SWCD helped sign up 14,647.7 acres to 16 different producers. Currently, Warren SWCD has been working alongside agricultural retailers such as Sunrise and Nutrien, as well as private retailers, to assist in the creation of the Voluntary Nutrient Management Plans. Voluntary Nutrient Management Finalized plans are due in December and we look forward to assisting Warren County producers in implementing H2Ohio on their land in 2025 and 2026.
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For 2025 and beyond, we hope for additional opportunities within H2Ohio that will be available to current and future producers of the program.  If you missed the sign-up period for H2Ohio, please contact our office to discuss eligibility for future H2Ohio opportunities and to get on our wait list.
 
Emilie Fisher
District Technician
Warren County Soil & Water Conservation District
(513) 695-2556
[email protected]