USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service will invest $41 million in a three-year initiative to support farmers in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana working to improve water quality in the Western Lake Erie Basin. NRCS Chief Jason Weller announced the initiative aimed at helping farmers implement conservation measures to reduce runoff from farms entering the region’s waterways. The funding expands on current financial assistance available to farmers in the basin. The funding will help farmers in the basin meet the goal of reducing runoff by 40 percent, as set by a joint agreement between the U.S. and Canada. NRCS also released a new report through its Conservation Effects Assessment Project that evaluates the impacts of voluntary conservation in the Lake Erie Basin, and conservation treatment needs. The report, based on farmer survey data, shows voluntary conservation is making significant headway in reducing nutrient and sediment loss from farms. However, NRCS notes, there is an opportunity to improve conservation management across the basin, and no single conservation solution will meet the needs of each field and farm.