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Md. county considering increasing buffer zone
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The largest used equipment inventory in the Mid-Atlantic is only a click away. Visit our website by clicking here or visit us at one of our 11 locations throughout MD, DE, VA and PA.
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Md. county considering increasing buffer zone
3.18.2008
By STEPHANIE JORDAN
Associate Editor
EASTON, Md. — A proposal before the Talbot County Planning Commission could require that the county’s Critical Area buffer on agricultural land be increased from 25 feet to 60 feet.
The proposal was introduced by Thomas Hughes, a member on the Planning Commission.
Hughes could not be reached for comment as of press time.
Bobby Hutchison, a Talbot County farmer and member of the Planning Commission, said that he will get behind the proposal if it does not single out agriculture and is required for everyone in the county.
“If everyone’s not willing to do it, then it’s something that shouldn’t be done,” he said. “If it’s good enough for agriculture to do it, it’s good enough for everyone in the county to do it.”
Hutchison said the agricultural community has concerns about the proposal — most of which come from the proposal taking more land out of production — especially during a time when grain prices are up and there is higher demand for those commodities.
“I’m not in favor of it, but if they want to do it for everyone, then I’ll get behind it,” he said.
Ed Heikes, vice president of the Talbot County Farm Bureau and chairman of its public affairs committee, said he is discouraged to see local government getting involved in increasing buffer requirements.
“It’s not nearly as practical solution as other methods,” Heikes said. “They want agriculture to come up to everyone else. Agriculture has been held to a higher bar for some time.”
He said agriculture has actually been held to a 100-foot buffer in Critical Areas; only in the landward 75 feet of the 100-foot buffer is agriculture allowed to continue, and even then, best management practices must be employed.
Heikes said there is no mitigation or variance process available to the agricultural community, but both avenues are available to residential or commercial development.
Talbot County ranks first in the state for the number of cover crop acres planted, which makes up 12 percent of Maryland’s total cover crop acres.
And farmers will not be allowed to enroll those acres that would fall in the new buffer zone into the USDA’s Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP).
According to Heikes, who spoke with the Farm Service Agency in Easton, “land must be legally eligible to be farmed to be entered or reenrolled in these programs.”
Heikes also said he was concerned that if this proposal passes, farmers will be dealt another blow later on by having another increase in the Critical Areas buffer.
“I cannot stress enough the agitation this is causing within the farm community,” Heikes said in his testimony to the Planning Commission. “I have been contacted by many people who are extremely disheartened to learn that, as farmers are working to comply with federal and state requirements of many types related to environmental concerns within agriculture, and working to be good stewards of the land, the Planning Commission now appears to be considering hands on tinkering with agricultural production.”
A work session will be held to discuss the proposal further, but a date for that meeting has not been announced.
University of Maryland scientists will be invited to speak before the commission.