Nutrient Management

ANNAPOLIS - The Maryland Department of Agriculture said the state's 1998 farm runoff law needs minor changes. One change being considered by the Maryland General Assembly would help dairy farmers with the costs of hauling away manure. Another would remove a religious exemption intended for Mennonites. "The bill is a good first step to say to the farming community there were changes that needed to be made," Carroll County, Md., farmer Allen Stiles testified Tuesday at a hearing before the House Environmental Matters Committee.

ANNAPOLIS - Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich has announced Board of Public Works approval of $217,900 in state cost-share funding to help farmers in six counties install 18 on-farm projects to prevent the loss of soil and nutrients from farmland. The monies are made available through the Maryland Agricultural Water Quality Cost-Share Program (MACS), which covers up to 87.5 percent, up to $100,000 per farm, of the cost to install any of 27 different best management practices such as waste storage structures, grassed waterways and fencing.

Dec. 6: 4-H Swine Club, Washington County Extension Office, 7:30 p.m. Dec. 7: Pesticide Testing, Washington County Extension office, 1 p.m. Call 301-701-1304 to register. Dec. 7: 4-H Livestock Club, Washington County Extension office, 7 p.m. Dec. 8: 4-H Horse Council, Washington County Extension office, 7:30 p.m. Dec. 12: Hagerstown Valley Apian Society, Washington County Extension office, 7 p.m. Dec. 14: Nutrient Management Voucher Training, Washington County Extension, 10 a.m. Call 301-791-1304 to register.

The Maryland departments of Agriculture and Environment are holding public meetings for farmers and other interested people on the proposed animal feeding operation permits. The meetings are as follows: Today at 6 p.m., Washington County Cooperative Extension Office, 7303 Sharpsburg Pike, Boonsboro. Monday, March 24 at 6 p.m., Guerrieri Hall Auditorium (GH101), Wor-Wic Community College, 32000 Campus Drive off Md. 50, Salisbury, Md. The new draft general permit will upgrade existing permit requirements for nonpoultry facilities such as dairy farms and add a requirement for having a comprehensive nutrient management plan at farms with poultry houses 75,000 square feet or larger.

ANNAPOLIS - Fewer farmers are filing plans to minimize fertilizer runoff now that the state has made it mandatory, an administration official told lawmakers Tuesday. Four years ago, when nutrient management plans were still voluntary, 1.3 million acres of farmland were covered, Joseph Bryce, the governor's legislative liaison, told a state Senate committee Tuesday. By the time a Dec. 31 deadline for the plans rolled around, 1.1 million acres of farmland were either enrolled in the program or were in the process of being enrolled, he said.

Farmers seen as scapegoats for Pfiesteria By GUY FLETCHER Staff Writer A Maryland commission addressing the state's highly publicized Pfiesteria problem is raising concern among some farmers and lawmakers who feel agricultural runoff is being hastily targeted as the culprit in the outbreaks that killed thousands of fish and left dozens of people ill over the summer. "I hope we're not going off half-cocked," said Gerald Ditto, a Clear Spring hog farmer and president of the Washington County Farm Bureau.

Farmers rally to fight runoff plans ANNAPOLIS - Steve Ernst is the sixth generation of his family to earn his living by farming Washington County land, and he wants to make sure there can be a seventh. "This has a real potential to change the face of Maryland agriculture," said Ernst, 33, who with his father runs a hog, sheep and crop farm near Clear Spring. The "this" to which Ernst was referring is Gov. Parris N. Glendening's nutrient runoff proposal, which he and many other farmers have criticized for being hastily organized, potentially costly and an example of expanding government control over their livelihoods.

By SCOTT BUTKI / Staff Writer photo: RIC DUGAN / staff photographer During a Monday session of the Maryland Farm Bureau's annual convention, a state official gave farmers an update on legislation that requires many of them to file management plans for their properties. Royden Powell II, assistant secretary for resource conservation with the Maryland Department of Agriculture, explained some of the new requirements during the session. The legal requirement for farmers to submit a Nutrient Management Plan was included in the Water Quality Improvement Act of 1998.

CLEAR SPRING - At the farm of Carlton and Steve Ernst in Clear Spring, members of the agricultural and environmental community launched the new Farm Stewardship Certification and Assessment Program and announced the farms that are now certified in the program. The program recognizes farmers who are good stewards of their natural resources and are using appropriate best management practices to protect the Chesapeake Bay. At the event spearheaded by the Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts, farmers Carlton and Steve Ernst and John and J.D Rinehart were recognized as the first two farms in Maryland to become certified under the new program.

On Monday, the health of the Chesapeake Bay got a report card that most students would not want mom and dad to see - a grade of D and a score of 27. William C. Baker, president of the Bay Foundation, proposed a variety of solutions. Before they're implemented, however, we would like some assurances that they won't put an unacceptable burden on Western Maryland's farmers. According to The Associated Press, the foundation's report card considers 13 categories. Some areas improved, such as the amount of phosphorus and nitrogen flowing into the bay from the Susquehanna River.