Maryland officials apparently aren’t in any hurry to adopt strict new statewide nutrient management regulations that were met with strong opposition from agriculture interests, who fear the changes would lower yields for crop farmers and take thousands of acres out of production for livestock operators.
“They’re on hold at least until after the state general assembly ends its session next month,” Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) spokeswoman Julie Oberg told Green Markets. “Gov. Martin O’Malley has had his scientific advisory committee reviewing the proposals and will be discussing them with his BayStat cabinet.” Oberg said there is no set timeframe for adopting what she described as changes that would make the regulations more effective at protecting water quality and easy to implement, adding that it was unlikely that new regulations would be out in the near future.
Meanwhile, critics, including the Maryland Farm Bureau, have been very vocal. “We are sincerely disappointed at the direction that is being taken, which will turn our site-specific farm management tool into a one-size-fits-all prescription for farming,” Farm Bureau President Patricia Langenfelder wrote O’Malley. Langenfelder warned that one stipulation could result in the costly removal of thousands of acres from production because “fencing every mile of stream that meanders through a pasture is not economically feasible and constitutes a ‘taking’ of agricultural land without compensation.
“Frankly,” the letter continued, “it appears to the farm community that the most recent proposal to change nutrient management guidelines is designed to simply ‘check off boxes’ in the state’s TMDL requirements rather than as reasonable, economically feasible, practices that take into consideration the varying factors on each farm in the state.” Langenfelder said farmers are frustrated by the whittling away of their ability to make farm-specific decisions while meeting nutrient reduction goals, adding that the speed at which Maryland is placing mandates and restricting farm practices makes it impossible for good scientific research and cost/benefit analysis to be conducted.
The changes causing these concerns involve defining additional management practices that may be required related to crop production; the storage and handling of organic sources of nutrients; prohibiting the application of organic sources of nutrients in winter months; setback requirements for the application of crop nutrients, including fencing for livestock; and new guidance for the use of soil amendments and soil conditioners on agricultural land.
Langenfelder reminded the governor of a pledge in the summer of 2010 not to put Maryland farmers at a disadvantage compared to growers in other states. “I can assure you this proposal will do exactly that,” she said. “We are calling upon you now to uphold your pledge.”
The proposed regulations, finalized this past summer, were the result of almost two years of an interactive process involving a broad-based group, said MDA Assistant Secretary Royden Powell. MDA had planned to publish the proposed changes Dec. 2 in the Maryland Register, but MDA spokeswoman Oberg reported that objections from both sides of the issue have delayed that date.