SCC To
(Continued from Page Al)
carried out by the local conserva
tion districts, which have a historic
reputation for good relations with
the farm community, unlike DER.
Under the current administra
tion, DER has been undergoing a
realignment of approach to pro
tecting the environment Instead of
just saying, “No,” to landowners
and entrepreneurs seeking to alter
local environs in order to create
business, the agency policy is now
to say. “How may I help you com
ply with regulations?”
The Nutrient Management
Advisory Board consists of rep
resentatives mostly from agricul
ture and agribusiness, along with a
representative of the general
citizenry, the lending industry, and
environmental concerns, such as
the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
For more than 18 months, the
board has worked to create a set of
regulations to recommend to the
board.
The effort is considered to be an
example of the concept behind the
“Reg-Neg” type of negotiated
regulation-making.
This type of effort attempts to
curb public outcry after regula
tions have been proposed by
including the to-be regulated com
munity early in the process.
The goal of nutrient manage
ment is to prevent the uncontrolled
flow of nutrients into surface and
groundwaters.
The problem is yet to be fully
identified, but the symptom has
been increasingly degraded water
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quality throughout the Susquehan
na River and in many streams and
aquifers throughout the state
because of over-nutrification.
As a first approach, the law was
designed to address the production
agriculture sector.
This was done because of grow
ing concern over local municipali
ties creating ordinances limiting
farmers’ application of manure to
fields.
However, the core reason
behind local governments getting
involved in nutrient management
has been two phenomena related to
the increased demands on the land
and waters of the state by a grow
ing human population: the huge
surge in the urbanization of tradi
tional farm, field and forestland;
and the advent of super-sized con
tract livestock production facilities
on limited land.
The first phenomenon created a
situation in which all livestock
producers and those applying man
ure to their fields became sur
rounded by people with no or little
exposure to the actual conditions
of production agriculture.
the result has been intolerance
of normal agricultural practices by
local government officials,-who
either are, or were pressured by,
recently urbanized commuters liv
ing in residential developments
built on former farms in farming
country.
Local ordinances carried var
ying degrees of local government
intrusion into farming operations.
Further, many farms operate in
several different municipalities
and were becoming subject to a
variety of regulations, depending
on where political boundaries
cross fields.
The second phenomenon the
concentrated production
facility has created a rapid
departure from the traditional ratio
of manure production-to-acre on
farms.
‘ This has been caused because of
low commodity prices, which
some blame on government food
policies, and the application of
“industrial” techniques and atti
tudes to raising livestock.
The competitive demands on
livestock production favors higher
production with lower overhead.
With no controls on manure
handling, large production facili
ties have been built on properties
with insufficient acreage to allow
plants to use the nutrients adequ
ately on site.
Further, with less and less crop
land available locally to raise feeds
for the increased livestock popula
tions. and land juices having skyr
ocketed because of the first phe
nomenon, it has become more
competitive for some large lives
tock producers to import forages
and feeds.
Nutrients contained in feeds
which livestock don’t utilize are
passed on through manure.
In operations which import the
majority of livestock nutrients
through purchased feeds, the nutri
ents leave the farm in one of three
ways through the environment,
through the sale of crops raised
using the manure from the lives
tock, and through the exjjort of the
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livestock.
This is a situation used by those
who argue for something called,
“sustainable agriculture,” though
some of the initial concepts prom
oted by those who supj»rt “sus
tainable agriculture” seemed
removed from the practicalilities
of profitable agriculture.
The Nutrient Management Act
defines agricultural oj)erations
which are out of balance between
the amounts of nutrients manipu
lated on the farm and the amount of
cropland suitable for its applica
tion as “Concentrated Animal
Operations.”
For ease of understanding, the
law sets a cap on slocking rate of
2,000 pounds liveweight per acre,
on average, j>er year, as the thresh
hold level before being required to
develop a nutrient management
plan.
However, the Nutrient Manage
ment Act allows for any size oper
ation and any density of livestock,
as long as a plan is developed to
bring the operation within a close
balance between nutrients and
land.
That calculation does not
include farm residential land, but
the amount of land to which man
ure and other plant nutrients can be
safely applied.
The Nutrient Management Act
and its framers wanted to be cer
tain that concern for responsible
nutrient management didn’t end
with government regulating just
the production agriculture
community.
It does allow for expanding the
scope of the law to include other
sources of nutrients, such as resi
dential on-lot underground septic
systems, non-agricultural opera
tions that use nutrients to grow
grasses, for example, for recrea
tional or aesthetic activities, such
as golf.
The packet of regulations that
the state Conservation Commis
sion is to review in June addresses
production agriculture, except for
a last minute attempt by some
advisory board members to get
those who board horses included.
It was argued that some horse
boarding operations seem to have
much more than 2,000 pounds of
horse per acre per year, and thus
represented an “animal operation”
if not exactly a production agricul
ture operation.
It was suggested that production
agriculture farmers may become
upset if they see neighbors with
horses not being subject to the
same types of government
oversight.
As a result, board members pre
sent at the April meeting created a
definition in the recommended
regulations with the intent to
include those who board horses,
though if it were to remain, could
probably equally apply to dog ken
nels, mink ranches, pet shops, etc.
However, the commission staff
advised the board that its attempt
to include those who board horses
by attempting to change the scope
of the law through regulations
would probably be ruled illegal.
Nevertheless, the board
approved the package. It was said
by several board members, that
due to the overall agreement on the
majority of recommended regula
tions, the completeness of the
package, and die time restraints
(Turn to Pag* A 32)
Lamb
And
Wool
Checkoff
[(Continued from Pago A2B)
“A self-help check
off program is an oppor
tunity our industry has
to continue promotion
of our products and to
secure economic viabil
ity,” wrote Mawhinney.
But work being
undertaken by ASl’s
headquarters in Englew
ood, Colo, and by lob
byists in Washington,
D.C. is helping to soli
dify a working program,
according to the sheep
producer.
She indicated that the
organization needs
combined contributions
to stave off the impor
ters, who are ‘‘right
there, sitting on the
doorstep” of many pro
ducers,' she said. As a
result, more effort is
being undertaken by
ASI to include die needs
of the producers on the
1995 Farm Bill.
Vogel said that the
producers east of the
Mississippi River
account for most of the
total sheep producers in
the nation. Forty percent
of the lambs sold in the
country are sold in the
Northeast.