A24-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 12, 2003 Dairy-A-PhAIR Addresses Phosphorus, Air Quality MICHELLE KUNJAPPU Lancaster Farming Staff CONESTOGA (Lancaster Co.) A group of 17 producers, speakers, and agriculture indus try representatives gathered this week at the Frey Dairy Farm, Conestoga for “Dairy-A-PhAIR,” a course designed to address phosphorus and Air quality. Penn State Dairy Alliance sponsored the event. Robb Meinen, Penn State, dis cussed the Pennsylvania Envi ronmental Agricultural Conser vation Certification of Excellence (PEACCE) program. Following an environmental awareness course, an on-farm as sessment and Environmental Re view, and a conservation district checklist, producers can be certi fied in the program. In addition, he discussed odor and manure application. Penn sylvania’s nutrient management plans are based on nitrogen; how ever, future plans will include phosphorus, he said. “Ten percent of the land con tributes 90 percent of the Phos phorus that enters our waters,” said Meinen. “The phosphorus Index allows us to identify that ten percent of the land.” Carissa Itle Westrick, dairy en vironmental consultant, dis- Speakers at the recent Dairy-A-PhAir include, from left, Tom Frey, Frey Dairy Farms, and Penn State representatives Virginia Ishler, Jerry Martin, Alyssa Dodd, and Robb Meinen. NOTICE: FARM OWNERS Goodville Mutual is One of the Top 5 Farm Insurance Companies in Pennsylvania WANT TO KNOW WHY? Liz Martin Martin Insurance Agency 459 C N. George St. Millersville, PA 17551 (717) 872-7756 Toll Free 1-877-791-5235 www martinmsurance com Affordable insurance for farm, home,vehicle, and small business cussed the correlation between agriculture and the Clean Air Act. In the past, said Westrick, water quality and proper permit inspections were complaint driv en, since “if you have an odor problem, you have a neighbor problem,” she said. Now, inspections are becoming increasingly routine. In 2000 a large hog farm in Missouri was sued under the Clean Air Act (CAA), causing producers to look carefully at the link between the CAA and their farms. However “the science is just not there yet to regulate agri culture under CAA,” she said. Although odor and air quality “must be lumped together so odor can be regulated and en forced, from a producer stand point, I do think it’s two different issues,” she said. “For Pennsylvania, air quality concerns are likely to be odor driven, with most pressure com ing in areas of suburban sprawl,” said Westrick. “Make your neighbors happy, and it will re turn back to you ten-fold.” Alyssa Dodd, extension associ ate at Penn State, addressed nu trient management requirements. Nutrient-related regulations in Pennsylvania include the Clean Streams Law, the Nutrient Man agement Act, and the Federal Clean Water Act. Dodd also discussed the shift ing focus to phosphorus. “Chang ing science reveals that dissolved phosphorus in runoff is immedi ately available” and “is not just sediment-bound,” said Dodd. Pennsylvania’s Nutrient Man agement Act regulations, which became effective in 1997, are under review. Dodd encouraged producers to participate in government activi ties and help shape policy. “This is an active time in Pennsylva nia,” she said, reminding the au dience that their comments and concerns must be addressed, and “it does make a difference.” To read about nutrient man agement regulations, a manual is available through local conserva tion districts. Roy Richardson, PDA, dis cussed the Plan Development In centives Program, Agri-Link Low Interest Loans, Plan Implementa tion Grant Program, and Grow ing Greener Grants, state-funded programs to fund best manage ment practices (BMPs). Federal sources for BMPs in clude the Chesapeake Bay Pro gram and the Environmental Quality Incentive Program Tom Frey, owner and president of Frey Dairy Farms, discusses the operation’s nutrient management with the help of a farm diagram. (EQIP). Funding for streambank fenc ing may come through the DEP, Ducks Unlimited, Pennsylvania Game Commission, or Agricul ture Management Assistance Program (AMA). Meinen also discussed manure storage management. He defined “freeboard,” the area above the maximum engineered holding ca pacity, as an area usually de signed to hold a 25 year, 24-hour storm event. “Breaching freeboard without a major storm event could be considered negligent manage ment,” he said. Besides installing new storage units to hold liquid capacity for storms, Meinen advised keeping weekly records such as leak de tection, rain gauge measurement, and liner integrity, among others. Local contacts for finding out the availability of funds include the Conservation District, USDA Service Centers, Watershed Asso ciations, State Conservation Commission, and PDA. Virginia Ishler, Penn State, discussed four departments with information on nutrient manage ment. A web user can find the de partments’ information at http:// nutrient.psu.edu/. News, key contacts, informa tion on the Phosphorus Index, a self-test, website user survey, and animal units calculator are also included. Jerry Martin, who works with the nutrient management educa tion program for Penn State ex tension, discussed the phospho rus index. The index, which measures each field’s ability to handle nutrients, takes into con sideration source factors (How is it applied? Are the nutrients in corporated? What time of year is it applied?) and transport factors (how much erosion does the field sustain? What are the runoff lev els? Is there subsurface drain age?). These factors, and others, are combined in an equation to yield a number on a scale of 100. Top scoring fields would be barred from further fertilization, accord ing to Martin. However, changing factors such as adding a buffer or chang ing the time of application from fall to spring may lower the field’s score and allow more fer tilizer application. “It’s not trying to eat the sys tem but improve things,” he said. The phosphorus index “Encour ages those improvements along the way.” Tom Frey, owner, Frey Dairy Farms, discussed the dairy’s nu trient management operation. The dairy includes two freestall bams, 600 stalls each, and almost 1,300 Holsteins that are milked three times a day. The older milking parlor is still in use for fresh and treated cows, said Frey. The older bams are (Turn to Page A 26)
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