5 Legacy Farmers Cooperative Facilities Now 4R Nutrient Stewardship Certified

The 4R Nutrient Stewardship Certification Program has announced that Legacy Farmers Cooperative’s facilities in Arcadia, Arlington, McComb and Pandora, OH, have all been added to its growing list of nutrient service providers to achieve certified status. (View photos in slideshow above).

With this announcement, all five of Legacy’s agronomy locations have now achieved 4R Nutrient Stewardship Certification. The company’s Custar, OH, facility achieved certified status in October 2014.

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The voluntary certification program is a concentrated effort by the agriculture industry to improve nutrient use efficiency and reduce nutrient loss in response to excessive levels of nutrients being cited as a contributing factor to harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie.

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Legacy Farmers Cooperative provides a wide variety of services across nine counties. The company’s 11 grain facilities market and handle grain, in addition to its five agronomy locations. Legacy Farmers Cooperative also serves its lawn & pet, turf and petroleum customers, including operations of two self-service, 24-hour fuel stations.

The four newly-certified Legacy facilities feature 50 full-time employees, including eight certified crop advisers, serving approximately 550 grower customers, affecting 250,000 acres in the Auglaize, Blanchard, Cedar-Portage, Lower Maumee and Ottawa Western Lake Erie Basin watersheds. Over 300,000 acres and 650 customers are serviced by Legacy’s agronomy facilities.

“Legacy Farmers Cooperative is very proud to have the distinction of all five of our agronomy locations being 4R Nutrient Stewardship Certified,” said Mark Sunderman, president and CEO of Legacy Farmers. “At the end of the day, it is about doing things the right way and being a leader in agriculture for our members, customers, employees and communities. We all play a role and Legacy Farmers Cooperative wants to make sure that we are doing our part to create long term sustainability for farmers and communities.”

The program certifies that individuals and entities in the Western Lake Erie Basin that sell, apply or make recommendations on how fertilizers should be applied to crops are doing so in accordance with 4R Nutrient Stewardship principles — which refers to using the Right Source of Nutrients at the Right Rate and Right Time in the Right Place. Applicants must go through an audit and demonstrate they not only understand 4R principles, but also follow them.

More than 1.4 million acres and approximately 3,700 farm clients are serviced by the 21 facilities in Ohio and Michigan that have earned 4R Nutrient Stewardship Certification, with approximately 60% of those acres being in the Western Lake Erie Basin.

“The Nutrient Stewardship Council congratulates Legacy Farmers Cooperative on its commitment to the program, having earned certification for all of its agronomy facilities,” said Andrew Allman, executive director of the Nutrient Stewardship Council.

“Legacy Farmers’ agronomy facilities have proven their dedication to the long-term improvement of Lake Erie’s water quality by following the 4Rs,” said Carrie-Vollmer Sanders, Nutrient Stewardship Council chairwoman.

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