Alt-lwc—tw F—hg, Saturday, February 11, ISM
Education & research are keys to Bay cleanup
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Modern
conservation practices on the farm
such as no-till planting methods
could reduce the amount of
phosphorus running off farmlands
and into the Chesapeake Bay
basin. But scientists are dubious
about those same methods
reducing the amount of nitrogen
flowing into the Bay.
These were some of the
preliminary conclusions of
scientiests at a recent seminar in
Annapolis on “The Movement of
Agricultural Nitrogen and
Phosphorus to the Chesapeake
Bay,” sponsored by the Maryland
State Soil Conservation Com
mittee.
Both elements - nitrogen and
phosphorus - are essential for
modem farming practices to
guarantee high yields of com and
grain.
Both elements also are partially
to blame for what the United States
Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) calls “nutrient
overenrichment’’ of the
Chesapeake Bay.
Nutrient overenrichment has
been blamed for several of the
Bay’s ills, most notably the
disappearence of submerged
aquatic vegetation where fresh
water marine life spawn and their
young spend a substantial portion
of their formative months.
According to a panel of scientists
at the seminar, good farm land
management - called ‘best
management practices,” or BMPs
- could go a long way toward
reducing the flow of phosphorus
from agricultural lands into the
Bay.
One BMP recommended by the
University of Maryland's
Agricultural Experiment Station
(UMAES) and Cooperative Ex
tension Service (UMCES) is no-till
planting methods.
It has been cited as a best
management practice it
significantly reduces land erosion
and, by implication, the runoff of
fertilizer chemicals from farm
land into bodies of water.
No-till probably could play its
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biggest role in the control of
phosphorus flowing into the
Chesapeake Bay basin, since
phosphorus tends to “tie up” with
sediment eroding from poorly
managed lands during heavy
rainfalls, according to Harry
Pionke, a scientist with USDA’s
agricultural research service.
Nitrogen, however, poses a
different problem for scientists.
While conservation tillage such as
no-till reduces the amount of
nitrogen that can can wash away
from the surface of farm land,
scientists point out that surface
runoff from farm lands is not the
major avenue for nitrogen escape.
According to J.J. (Jack)
Meisinger, another USDA scien
tist, the two leading escape routes
for nitrogen from farm land are
leaching and denitrification.
Leaching is the process by which
the chemical moves from the root
zone of crop plants down into the
soil subsurface where it can react
with groundwater supplies.
Denitrification is a chemical
conversion process in which fer
tilizer forms of nitrogen such as
ammonia change to nitrates
which are highly mobile and easily
lost from the soil.
According to Meismger, while
no-till is good for control of
phosphorus loss, it may not have
much of an effect on controlling
nitrogen loss.
At the same time, however, no
till practices ‘wouldn’t hurt,
either,” he says
“The loss of unaccounted for
nitrogen from farm lands is
strongly related >to over
fertihzation, the point beyond
which a crop can assimilate
nitrogen,” says Meismger.
He recommends "education” as
the most important method of
improving the management of
nitrogen by Maryland farmers.
“Something must be done to
educate farm operators to improve
their understanding of the prin
ciples, the practices and the
economic benefits of efficient
nitrogen management,” Meismger
said
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The economic benefits are
crucially important to farmers
who have seen the price of nitrogen
fertilizers increase dramatically in
the last 10 years.
“Farmers simply cannot afford
to overfertilize,” said W. Lamar
Harris, director of UMAES and
chairman of the Bay panel of
agricultural scientists.
Questions that still remain for
scientists include; What happens
to elements like nitrogen and
phosphorus when it moves into soil
subsurfaces? How does it find its
way into the Chesapeake Bay
basin 9 How mnrh nf it nnmf-c from
Farm vacation list available
HARRISBURG - A wonderful
way to spend your vacation is
available this year, according to
state Agriculture Secretary
Penrose Hallowell. The new 1984
Pennsylvania Farm Vacation
Directory offers 31 different
vacation farms with something for
everyone with a taste for the
country.
The 1984 directory includes in
formation on the 31 members of the
Pennsylvania Farm Vacation
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farmers who provide unique
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families looking for a chance to
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The association has enjoyed
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which sources?
Members of the panel suggested
that more research is needed in
some critical areas before
recommendations can be made to
farmers, industry and local
jurisdictions on how to proceed to
clean up the Bay.
One member of the panel
defended the need for more
research, but advocated that state
decision makers move ahead with
recommendations based on in
formation at hand.
“Research is always expensive
and there are data gaps in what we
know about the Bay. We need more
“Farm vacations provide a
great taste of rural life, from the
clean country air to the smell of
good old-fashioned country
cooking,” Hallowell said.
“Children can see a farm in
operation first-hand, and even lend
a hand in feeding the animals.”
Farms range from 30 acres to
1,200 acres with accommodations
including cottages, large turn of
the Century stone farm houses, log
cabins and primitive camping in
the woods.
The 31 farms feature a wide
variety of locations, rates and
meal plans. Recreational facilities
vary from inground pools and
macadem tennis courts to rippling
streams and ponds.
Entertainment and excursion
trips also vary...frontier quietness
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harvesting crops, historic areas,
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research,” said Alan Taylor,
UMAES scientist.
“We cannot go on researching
forever, certainly, we’ve got to get
moving.
“But we must be conscious of the
fact that there is some territory
that needs to be explored,” he
added.
The panel of scientists is charged
with assembling and releasing a
technical report that will help state
officials identify the Bay’s critical
areas and recommend plans to
reduce agricultural contributions
to pollution of the Bay.
rates, and a map of the com
monwealth showing the location of
member farms and major access
routes across the state is also in
cluded. All farms are inspected
and approved by the Pennsylvania
Farm Vacation Association.
More information and copies of
the Farm Vacation Directory can
be obtained by writing to FARM
VACATION, Bureau of
Agricultural Development,
Department of Agriculture, 2301
North ■ Cameron Street,
Harrisburg, PA 17110, or by calling
(717)783-8460.