Madison, Wisc.-Wisconsin is expected to be getting a statewide ban on the sale and use of phosphorus fertilizer for lawns, which includes preemptive language limiting further regulation by local governments, according to the spokesman for the landscape industry. “This bill will pass due to the strong grassroots efforts of the Wisconsin Lakes Assn. and other environmental groups contacting their lawmakers,” Brian Swingle, executive director of the Wisconsin Green Industry Federation, told Green Markets. Swingle predicted the General Assembly most likely will add to the Senate-passed bill an amendment imposing some form of preemption language on local units of government. He said the federation supports requiring scientific evidence supporting additional regulation at the local level, but opposes the Senate version, which bans display of fertilizer containing phosphorus as a “hide the fertilizer” approach. “Instead,” Swingle added, “we believe the solution is to post a sign at the point of sale educating customers of when phosphorus-containing fertilizers can be lawfully used, and the negative impacts that excess phosphorus can have on water quality.” One way or the other, Wisconsin agriculture interests aren’t much concerned about the phosphorus legislation. Farm Bureau officials reported that agriculture is exempted from SB179 because application of fertilizer for crop and pastureland is regulated through the state’s non-point source prevention program. Spokesman Paul Zimmerman said that growers and producers, with a few exceptions, are required to comply with management standards based on University of Wisconsin research. The lake supporters’ legislative and legal committee chair, Roger Walsh, remarked in the press, “We are pleased that this initiative won strong bipartisan support. The senate has adopted a good bill. We encourage the assembly to pass this bill quickly and get it to the governor’s desk.” Walsh pointed out that the vast majority of Wisconsin’s lawns are saturated with too much phosphorus and that runoff goes directly into surface waters. He said the bill has broad support from county and local governments, local lake groups, statewide conservation organizations, and others interested in protecting the lakes throughout the state. At the same time, a bill has been introduced in the Maryland state senate with 14 co-sponsors to prohibit use of phosphorus fertilizer on all established lawns. One of them, Montgomery County Sen. Brian Frosh, reported in the press that the intent is to make the restrictions voluntary by not establishing any lawn police or setting up fines. Phosphorus would be allowed for establishing new lawns. Frosh also suggested that producers should label their no-phosphorus products for use on older lawns.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain