Local farms avoiding runoff pollution
Waste products kept on farm to aid soilBy COLIN KYLER ckyler@timesobserver.com
For much of rural America, water pollution from farm runoff is a serious problem, blamed for such things as the decline of the Chesapeake Bay, for instance.
The New York Times recently reported water pollution from farm runoff goes largely unregulated, prompting questions around the country about the effect of agriculture on water cleanliness.
Natural Resources Conservation Service Warren District Conservationist Laura Agnew said the county does not have a problem with agricultural runoff causing pollution.
Instead, the county has small family farms with an adequate land base to dispose of manure.
While manure is often regarded as a waste product, Agnew said it is full of nutrients and organic matter.
When it is properly applied to the land, it can enrich soil and support crops to feed the animals.
"While there is potential for runoff following manure application to fields, many farmers are adopting new conservation practices to retain the nutrients on the land," Agnew said.
Such practices include nutrient management plans, no-till and cover cropping.
In addition, Agnew said other practices are being used by farmers to protect the resources on the farm and also those of their downstream neighbors.
"These practices include riparian buffers, crop rotations, contour stripcropping and rotational grazing," she said.
The Warren County Conservation District and the local USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service work with farmers in the county to do conservation planning and to implement many of these practices on their farms, Agnew said.
Pennsylvania Conservation Commission Nutrient Management Program Director Doug Goodlander said his department requires high-density animal operations to develop plans to manage the manure produced from their animals.
While Warren County does not have any farms which are considered high-density, defined as 2,000 pounds of live weight per acre, Goodlander said there are three farms in the county which volunteer for the program.
The 2,000 pounds would mean about 14 hogs, one and a half cows, 650 chickens or two horses per acre.
"The idea is when farms have more than that, it exceeds the ability of the land to turn the manure into crops, Goodlander said.
Volunteers become eligible for financial assistance, Goodlander said.
The state has around 1,000 high-density animal operations and 1,500 more volunteers, Goodlander said.
"I think farmers are recognizing the necessity to make sure they are doing the right things to protect water quality," he said.
