A24—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 28,1983
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Maryland
Secretary of Agriculture, Wayne
A. Cawley, Jr., says the question of
farmers quickly converting por
tions of their cropland into “buf
fers” or “filter strips” is not as
easily done as some would make it
sound.
“The purpose of a buffer area is
to filter sediment from storm
water runoff to prevent its entry
into streams, rivers, or the
Chesapeake Bay. In order for a
filter strip to operate as intended,
it must be on a fairly flat, uniform
grade and be vegetated with a
dense, erosion-resistant variety of
grass. Shade from trees and other
obstructions will interfere with the
growth of the filter vegetation.
“Many persons, both in and out
of government in Maryland, have
made a number of statements
recently urging that farmers in
stall the strips in an effort to aid in
reducing pollution of waterways
and the Chesapeake Bay,”
Secretary Cawley says.
“The public may get the im
pression that buffers are a quick
and inexpensive way to provide a
noticeable improvement to water
quality in the bay.
“Buffers are only one of many
‘Best Management Practices’
(BMPs) which should be used after
a field inspection by conservation
experts to determine that site
conditions would warrant it. We
support the approach of the soil
conservation districts and the U.S.
Soil Conservation Service to
prepare and implement a com
prehensive conservation plan for
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Cawley urges ‘buffer strip’ caution
the entire farm.
“Buffers, or filter strips are
effective ways to trap sediment
and nutrients but they must be
designed and installed precisely if
they are to work properly. Simply
reserving an area in natural
vegetation may not, in many in
stances, be effective in providing a
filter.”
“There are a number of
technical things that have to be
considered to make a buffer, or
filter strip, work properly.
“Materials planted in the strips
have to meet certain standards if
they are to work properly, the area
to be planted must be prepared
properly, amended with lime and
fertilizer based on soil test data if
the strips are to work. Keep the
flow of runoff in a filter strip
uniform and slow enough to allow
infiltration and sediment and
nutrient removal may even
require grading of the site.
“There may be need for tem
porary mulching of the seeded
area to help get it off to a good start
and the strips must be maintained
on a regular basis by cuttihg so
that the grasses they are planted to
don’t clump. Clumping affects the
filtering ability of the strip.
“Buffer or filter strips aren’t the
answer to runoff in many in
stances. They aren’t very effective
if the terrain of the ground in
volved has a slope of more than
five percent and such strips are
only effective when runoff flows
slowly and uniformly in a manner
known as ‘sheet flow’. Direct flow
of water from fields may require
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other measures such as grading,
spreaders and dissapators to be
employed in conjunction with the
strips to change a concentrated or
channel flow of runoff to sheet flow
before it enters the filter area.
“Anyone seriously considering
buffer or filter strips should be
aware of the fact that the U.S. Soil
Conservation Service (SCS), for
many years, has included them as
a ‘Best Management Practice’
(BMP) and has worked out a full
set of standards and specifications
for them.
“By idling land under the USDA
Payment-in-Kind (PIK) or other
USDA programs, farmers can
provide temporary buffers on their
own by simply planting last year’s
shoreline cropland in a vegetative
cover that will reduce erosion.
When the PIK program is over,
much of that land will revert back
to cropland; buffers provided in
the interim would not be eligible
for cost sharing but the cost of
installing it would only cover the
planting of seed, which is a PIK
requirement anyway.
“These temporary buffers
should not be confused with the
permanent filter strips.
“Agriculture is responding to its
duty to assist in reducing and
eliminating, whenever possible,
runoff of sediment, chemicals and
nutrients into our waterways. Our
new state cost-share program will
provide an added incentive to
farmers to participate in installing
soil and water conservation
practices, one of which is filter
strips.
SOUTHERN DIVISION
1101 Lakeview Road
Oxford, PA PH: 717-529-2113
Farm Consultant: Barry Frank
“I have gone on record recently
with the Secretary of the Maryland
Department of Natural Resources,
Dr. Torrey C. Brown, in supporting
his suggestion that buffers be
required on the vast acreage of
farmlands owned by the State of
Maryland which is rented out to
tenant farmers.
“I suggested to him that such
practices on state-owned lands be
measured so as to be a living ex
periment this year to precisely
measure their effects at filtering
runoff. Cost and effectiveness
results could be determined before
serious thought be given to ex-
CHAMBERSBURG - About
30,000 acres of corn being planted
this spring m Franklin County will
be done by the no-till planting
system, states John R. Akers,
District Conservationist with the
Chambersburg office of the USDA
Soil Conservation Service.
This leaves another 58,000 acres
of corn land that will still be done
after plowing, chisel plowing, or
planting with a no-till planter on
bare fields without a residue or
cover crop.
Many county farmers are
missing out on the maximum
benefits of no-till planting when
they just plant in a bare field,
Akers said. When com planting is
done in a crop residue or cover
crop, moisture is held on the soil
and there is a buildup of organic
matter plus soil erosion losses are
reduced, he added.
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Sprecker Road
West Willow, PA
PH: 717-464-3386
Farm Consultant: Tom Forrey
panding by regulation, or other
governmental action, the buffer
plan to private lands.
“Before government begins
demanding private landowners
take action it should first carry out
such practices itself on the land it
owns and measure the costs of the
demands.
“In the meantime, a voluntary
approach by agriculture is the best
way in my view and one that is now
going to be handsomely assisted by
the new conservation cost-share
program being implemented this
year by MDA”, Mr. Cawley con
cluded.
When tune is at a premium and
fuel costs are rising again, no-till
planting offers a good alternative
to the traditional plowing and
tilling of the soil before planting.
Better management is needed to
control weeds and insects in the no
till planting systems.
Yields are averaging out as high
with no-till corn as compared with
conventional planted com, states
Akers. When the residues are left
on the fields, the soil losses can be
reduced from 10 or more tons per
acre to less than 5 tons per acre.
This results in dollar savings to the
farmer with reduced losses of
lime, fertilizer, and pesticides
when erosion losses are
minimized.
For more information on no-till
planting systems, contact the
USDA Soil Conservation Service
office at 550 Cleveland Avenue,
Chambersburg or call 264-7013.
IS