Hot News

10.19.04

By JEFF MORELAND

EASTON, Md. — It’s one of the hottest topics on Maryland’s farming agenda today, but you couldn’t tell that from the turnout at a nutrient management meeting Tuesday in Easton.
The first of three meetings across the state at which Maryland Department of Agriculture officials discussed proposed changes in the state’s nutrient management requirements drew a modest crowd at best Oct.12, with about 50 people in attendance including MDA officlals.
Secretary of Agriculture Lewis Riley addressed the group to begin the discussion of the proposed changes, telling the modest crowd that he and the MDA staff, along with other agencies in the agriculture community, want to make nutrient management laws work.
“I am a farmer, but I’ve also been involved in government for a number of years, and I don’t think I’ve seen an issue of this magnitude with the cooperation that we’ve had from the agriculture industry, wanting to get an understanding and the reasoning involved and get the plan in back of us,” Riley said. “Nobody has ever really said to me they want to stop nutrient management. The goal has been to make it work, and we think we’re on the right track to do that.”
Louise Lawrence, with MDA’s Office of Resource Conservation, made a presentation discussing some of the proposed changes to the nutrient management regulations. Lawrence said an August 2003 summit that included many farmers found the major points of concern to be in the right of entry to a farmer’s property and the amount of paperwork involved in completing the nutrient management plan.
“What we’ve done is to remove the reference to require right of entry sign-off,” Lawrence said. “On the nutrient management plan right now, farmers would sign off on the end of the year review saying that all information they have provided is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge and that they agree to follow a valid nutrient management plan.”
John Hutchison, a tree farmer from Cordova, Md., said he doesn’t feel the law is being changed, just the wording of the law.
“I see no change whatsoever in the policy. They’ve just changed the signature from one line on the form to another. We’re going to have to do it anyhow. At that time, we’ll cross that bridge,” Hutchison said.
Lawrence said there will be reasonable time given, 48 hours notice according to the proposed change, and review will be done at a reasonable time and location.
“It doesn’t automatically give people the right of entry to your property, and the law does allow for locations not on your property, so it’s a little more flexible in that regard,” Lawrence explained. “On some farms a site review might be required if there is a question about animals and manure management, but on other farms it might not be necessary. It’s a little bit more flexible, but it doesn’t say that we’re never going to look to assure that people are complying to the legislation.”
Hutchison said he has no problem with his records being reviewed, but added that he doesn’t like to have just anybody on his property.
“They’re welcome to come and talk to me and look at my records and talk to me about them, but in terms of walking on my property, I’m a little sensitive about who and why I let come on and when. For me it’s probably not a major problem because I’d probably let them on anyhow, it’s just the principal of the thing. But they’re not changing a thing, they’re just changing the wording,” he said.
In an attempt to ease the minds of Hutchison and others, Lawrence explained that one staff member would visit the farm, and only after making telephone calls to arrange a suitable time for the meeting.
“They would sit down with you and review the records you have in terms of what nutrient management plan you have. They would just make comments to you, and if things looked good, that would be it,” Lawrence said. “If they thought things might need to be improved, they would tell you some things that might be done to improve. Basically it’s not to bust anybody, it’s just to verify that plans are being implemented in accordance with nutrient management principals.”
The amount of paperwork required to complete a nutrient management plan was also discussed, and Lawrence assured the farmers in attendance that efforts are being made to streamline the process. She said with the low turnout due to farmers being busy tending to their crops, MDA welcomes questions and concerns via mail or e-mail.
Riley added to Lawrence’s remarks, stressing the government’s interest in protecting privacy on Maryland farms.
“It’s certainly not the intent, and it won’t be the action of us invading someone’s property. It’s going to be a workable agreement, and that is really the basis of the changes because that’s what we’ve heard the most complaints about is private property rights, and we’re going to honor and respect them to the greatest degree. Obviously if you’ve got an absolute abuser, youll have to deal with it, but we’ll deal with it properly,” Riley said.
“We use the statement that we feel very strongly about that your farm is your homestead. It is not the government’s intent to invade or intrude on a homestead. It will be a mutual working agreement, and we feel that way that the plan will work. That’s the number one change we’re going to make. I feel very strongly about that and the governor feels very strongly about it, too.”