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"The Laroche family farm has been part of Matt Laroch's family for three generations.\"And my kid's 11 and he enjoys the farm, so hopefully it'll be four,\" said Laroche.Farming is a way of life for the family, and for much of northwest Vermont.Farming drives the economy there, and is a big part of Vermont culture.But it can also contribute to sediment and phosphorous runoff that makes it's way into streams, rivers and Lake Champlain, fueling algae growth and poor water quality, made worse by recent storms.The problem is particularly serious in the Mississquoi Bay watershed.\"Traditional farming practices are the same here as they are other places in the state, but the key is very fine soils enables the phosphorous and sediment to be picked up by flowing water,\" said Paul Madden, of Friends of Northern Lake Champlain.Madden has been reaching out to farmers in the Mississquoi Bay watershed, especially in the Rock River area, where farming and runoff are most concentrated.He's encouraging farmers to help reduce runoff by planting cover crops, installing catch basins or planting grass buffer zones.For years, scientists knew runoff from farms and other sources was a problem but they couldn't pin-point it -- until now.\"We're out kind of in the edge of this field,\" said Madden, referencing a color-coded map. \"And it shows dark brown, which means it's producing more phosphorous than average.\"The International Joint Commission contracted Stone Environmental to map out exactly where the heaviest sources of phosphorous are in one of the most affected parts of the Lake Champlain basin.It was a nebulous problem before, without a specific place to point to, forcing a shot-gun approach at best.Now, conservationists have a map of exactly where phosphorous is coming from in the Mississquoi Bay watershed.\"You can imagine, if you own or operate hundreds of acres of land and somebody says to you, 'Are in interested in a grass buffer' -- where? -- this starts to easily answer that question of where,\" said Stone Environmental's Julie Moore, referencing the map. \"And so then we're talking about this spot right here as opposed to this whole map.\"Washington just allotted about a million dollars to help farmers implement conservation techniques. Part of that is funding Sen. Pat Leahy (D)-VT secured through the Great Lakes Fisheries Commission. That money is not a large percentage of what Washington is offering farmers now, but it's flexible enough to fill in the gaps allowing farmers to employ conservation techniques to help stop runoff at no expense to them.The Secretary of Agriculture said most farmers in the state are more than willing to participate, especially since it can be a win-win.\"You're not losing your soil, you're not losing the nutrients you have in the soil, and you have less compaction and you're growing better crops,\" said farmer Wayne Fiske.He's been using some of the recommended best practices for years, and says it's worth it for the farm and the community as a whole.\"I want to make quick cleaner water, and better quality water and so that's what we're trying to do,\" said Fiske.Funding is available through the USDA's NRCS office for farmers in the Mississquoi Bay basin willing to use techniques best for their land that will protect the watershed.In Franklin County, farmers can call 802-527-1296 to apply.In Orleans County, call 802-334-6090.For more information, go to http://www.vt.nrcs.usda.gov/."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.mynbc5.com/article/new-tool-more-money-helps-fight-runoff/3303317>