Amish
water quality and nutrient management education
Jim Hoorman
Ohio State University Extension
Although
Amish communities may vary in their use of technology and farming practices,
they share problems related to manure management. Poor agronomic knowledge and practices, overgrazing and
stream bank erosion, lack of nutrient management, and E. coli contamination of
well water are common. Traditionally
distrustful of outsiders, one-on-one contact with the most innovative farms
provides the best strategy for initiating change. Since 1998, the USDA has
funded studies of three Amish settlements in western Ohio with the following
objectives: 1) educating over 200 families on Best Management Practices; 2)
developing nutrient management plans; 3) establishing poultry manure
demonstration plots; 4) testing Amish wells for water quality and 5) monitoring
streams at eight sites.
A newsletter that covers agronomy, water quality, safety and food and nutrition as well as meetings that focus on intensive grazing, sprayers and manure spreader calibration has been effective educational tools. Soil testing of Amish farms indicates variations in nutrient levels and nutrient management plans developed to mitigate this problem are usually oral. Increased corn population and yields on fourteen demonstration plots have shown the effectiveness of applying poultry manure, a practice adopted by 25-50% of those studied. Water well testing has indicated that contamination is common and is usually as a result of poor drainage, lack of casing clearance, no well cap, leaky casings and loose pump attachments.