Two Conservation Easement Purchases
Completed On Northumberland County Farms
SUNBURY (Northumberland
Co.) The Northumberland
County Agricultural Land Pres
ervation Board (NCALPB) took
the final step in purchasing agri
cultural conservation easements
on two farms.
David Unger of Rush Town
ship, NCALP board chairman,
announced that the closings
were held in the office of Attor
ney Charles Saylor, Sunbury, for
easements on the Patsy Truck
enmiller farm and the Dale and
Jo Ann Lose farm, both in Dela
ware Township, Northumber
land County.
The NCALPB was able to
Emerging Alternatives To
Land Application Of Manure
Will There Be Enough
GEORGETOWN, Del.
The Delmarva Peninsula might
not have enough poultry
manure to meet demand for sev
eral projects that offer alterna
tives to land application of
manure. That possibility was
raised recently during a Balti
more area research symposium.
Bill Satterfield, executive di
rector of Delmarva Poultry In
dustry, Inc., (DPI), the trade
association for the broiler
chicken industry on the Del
marva Peninsula (Delaware,
Eastern Shore of Maryland, and
Eastern Shore of Virginia) de
scribed several projects that are
under way or being planned. He
questioned whether there would
be enough manure for these
projects and manure’s continua
tion as a fertilizer source for
hundred of farmers. It is esti
mated that chickens on the Del
marva Peninsula produce
approximately 600,000 to
800,000 tons of manure annu
ally.
On the Delmarva Peninsula,
at least four projects are under
way or being considered.
Perdue Farms Inc. and
Agrißecycle, Inc. have formed a
partnership to construct a
manure-to-pellet plant in Sussex
County, Del. This facility will
produce pellets that can be ex
ported and used by Midwest
farmers who grow corn fed to
Delmarva’s chickens. This facil
ity is expected to use 80,000 tons
of manure annually, or about 13
percent of the broiler chicken
manure produced on Delmarva
each year.
Allen Family Foods, Inc. is
planning to operate a gasifica
tion co-generation plant at its
Hurlock, Md. chicken process
ing plant. Power not used by the
pro ssing plant will be sold to
elec icity purchasers. This fa
cility will use about 40,000 tons
per year, or about 6.5 percent of
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purchase the easement through
funds provided by Pennsylvania
Department of Agriculture’s
Bureau of Farmland Preserva
tion. As a result, these landown
ers have preserved their
valuable farmland for agricul
tural production for perpetuity.
The Truckenmiller and Lose
farms are the seventh and eighth
farms to be preserved in
Northumberland County. The
Truckenmiller farm consists of
141.44-acres, and the Lose farm
is 164.27-acres, bringing the
total amount of farmland pre
served in Northumberland
County more than 988-acres. All
eight Northumberland County
To Go Around?
the local chicken manure.
Eastern Shore Forest Prod
ucts, Inc. of Salisbury, Md. is de
veloping a total litter
management system that in
cludes shipping manure off of
Delmarva, burning manure to
generate energy for a company
operated manure-to-fertilizer
plant, and setting up one-to-10
megawatt power plants that will
be located adjacent to poultry
company facilities. These proj
ects will use at least 85,000 tons
of chicken manure annually, at
least 13 percent of the locally
produced manure.
In addition, a British com
pany called FibroShore is work
ing to construct a large-scale
manure-burning power plant on
Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Elec
tricity would be sold to the high
est bidder. This facility could
use up to 350,000 tons of
manure annually; approxi
mately half of what is produced
on Delmarva.
Satterfield pointed out that
because of advances in feeding
programs and new corn varie
ties, chickens may excrete less
phosphorus in the years ahead,
thus making more farmland
available for manure utilization.
Additionally, commercial prod
ucts that bind phosphorus to the
soil and the recently developed
phosphorus index could expand
the number of acres of farmland
that can use manure in an envi
ronmentally safe manner.
Not included in the summary
of alternative uses are smaller
projects that use chicken
manure compost and as growing
media for flowers and nursery
crops.
Satterfield concluded by stat
ing, “Wouldn’t it be ironic if
Delraarva did not have enough
manure to meet all these de
mands after so many people
were critical about the alleged
oversupply of manure?”
easements were purchased en
tirely with state funds, for a total
of $948,203.72 paid to landown
ers and $47,701.45 in incidental
costs associated with the pur
chases. Northumberland
County provides $5,000 annu
ally for the NCALPB to admin
ister the preservation program.
The NCALPB is in the pro
cess of purchasing easements on
two more farms. Unger said,
“We anticipate the other two
farms will close early in 2001.
We are also hoping the state will
provide funds to be able to pur
chase several more in 2001, fol
lowing our next round of
ranking.”
Supplemental funds awarded
by the state made it possible for
the NCALP board to accomplish
what they have in 2000. Unger
said, “The farmland preserva
tion program in Northumber
land County continues to grow,
and our board is quite optimistic
about the future of the pro
gram.”
The purpose of the farmland
preservation program is to save
quality farmland. Many acres of
farmland are taken out of pro
duction in Pennsylvania on an
annual basis as a result of resi
dential and commercial devel
opment. The holder of the
conservation easement has the
right to prevent development or
other improvements to the land
for purposes other than agricul
tural production.
Anyone interested in the
farmland preservation program
in Northumberland County may
contact Carolyn Badman at
(570) 568-1942 or Dennis DiOrio
at (570) 286-7114, ext. 4.
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Crop Adviser Exam
Registration
Forms Available
EDGEWATER, Md. Inter
ested in becoming a certified
crop adviser? Registration forms
for the Feb. 2 Mid-Atlantic Cer
tified Crop Adviser (MACCA)
exams are available.
The exams will be offered in
Richmond, Virginia, Annapolis,
Maryland, and Charleston,
W.Va. The sign-up deadline is
Dec. 15.
The Mid-Atlantic Certified
Crop Adviser Program covers
crop advisers operating in New
Jersey, Delaware, Maryland,
Virginia, and West Virginia.
The MACCA exams are part
of the International Certified
Crop Adviser (ICCA) Program,
a nationally recognized, volun
tary certification program devel
oped through the collaborative
efforts of the public sector and
the agricultural industry to
ensure high standards for crop
advisers. Local programs are ad
ministered by state or regional
boards in association with the
American Society of Agronomy,
which handles similar programs
for specialists in agronomy, crop
consulting, weed science, and
other agricultural disciplines. It
is intended for anyone who
makes nutrient, pesticide, crop,
or environmental recommenda
tions to producers, including
dealers, distributors, applica
tors, consultants, manufactur
ers, allied industries, and state
and federal agency personnel.
To date, 236 individuals have
passed the rigorous six hours of
exams and become certified in
the Mid-Atlantic region.
To become Mid-Atlantic CCA
certified, an applicant must:
• Have at least two years of
crop advising experience with a
bachelor’s degree in agriculture,
three years of crop advising ex
perience with an associate
degree in agriculture, or have a
minimum of four years of crop
advising experience post high
school.
• Provide employer and
client reference.
• Pass a national and the two
MACCA regional exams.
• Sign a code of ethics.
To remain certified, a member
must participate in 40 hours of
continuing education during a
two-year period with a mini
mum of 10 hours in any one
year, and undergo an audit bian
nually by the MACCA Board to
verify continuing educational
and adherence to the code of
ethics.
As a Mid-Atlantic certified
crop adviser, an individual must
receive continuing education
credits for a wide variety of agri
cultural topics.
“The program helps demon
strate that the agricultural in
dustry prides itself on high
standards of professionalism
and knowledge,” said Louise
Lawrence, chair of the MACCA.
Lynne Hoot provides admin
istrative services for the
MACCA program and can be
reached at (410) 956-5771. Lor
registration materials for the
MACCA exams, contact Mi
chele Welsh (608) 273-8080,
before the Dec. 15 deadline for
the Feb. 2 exam.
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