Farmers are taking the heat for the Lake Erie algae bloom that prompted a water ban in Toledo, Ohio, just over a week ago.

In recent years, we’re produced a number of No-Till Farmer articles on the benefits of utilizing gypsum to improve plant nutrition and soil structure. Now, new research from Ohio State University indicates gypsum may play a key role in controlling the harmful algal blooms that are a growing concern in Lake Erie, the Chesapeake Bay, the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico.

For a number of years, there’s been a “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico that is caused by nitrogen runoff flowing from farms down the Mississippi River into the Gulf.