[S]T. ALBANS — State officials presented new penalties to prevent farmers from violating the state’s water quality laws at a public meeting on Monday.
But Agriculture Secretary Chuck Ross told farmers in attendance not to worry. Many farmers are not violating water quality regulations designed to curb manure runoff, he said, and violators will first be told how to address pollution runoff before penalties are issued.
All farmers are already required to follow accepted agricultural practices, or AAPs, which are designed to limit manure runoff. Now, the state is expanding these measures — and is under pressure from federal regulators and water quality advocates to enforce them.
“We believe water quality is a serious issue,” Ross said, “and we are ramping up the state’s commitment.”
As part of that commitment, the Agency of Agriculture is seeking authorization from the Legislature this year to issue civil penalties, declare emergency orders and remove animals from overcrowded farms if necessary.
The agency also wants to boot farmers from the state’s current use program if they continue to violate water quality laws. The program provides property tax breaks to property owners who keep their land in forestry or agriculture. The Vermont Farm Bureau opposes the legislation.
In order to reduce runoff, Ross said farmers can use manure injection systems, plant cover crops during the off season and vegetative buffers between waterways, build fences to exclude livestock from waterways, or make improvements to barnyards, among other options.
“There are some simple things that can be done that don’t cost a lot of money,” he said.
Manure runoff from farms is the largest source of phosphorus pollution in Lake Champlain. Thirty-six percent of the phosphorus pollution in St. Albans Bay comes from farms, which is less than the statewide average, according to federal data. Cyanobacteria feed on this nutrient, and St. Albans was the site of this summer’s most significant algae blooms.
Under federal law, the state is required to reduce phosphorus pollution by 36 percent. The pollution also flows from developed areas, roads, forests and waste water treatment plants. One of the most cost-effective solutions is to focus on farming operations, where officials say relatively small investments can make a big difference in curbing runoff.
Ross spent much of his presentation talking about how for nearly two decades the agency had insufficient resources to enforce pollution control measures on farms. When accepted agricultural practices were first adopted in 1995, he said, the state had no staff to implement them. Currently, the state has five staff responsible for inspecting more than 7,000 farms, he said.
The Agency of Agriculture is proposing to raise $1.2 million through an increase in the fertilizer fee. Of this amount, $700,000 will go toward new hiring seven new staff and the remainder will be used to help farmers comply with the regulations.
Ross said well managed farms are good for water quality. He said the state will be using available resources to provide financial and technical assistance to farmers. Federal and state money is available to farmers who plan to make capital investments in their farms.
He said a “surprisingly significant” number of farms are not familiar with the state’s AAPs. Farmers of medium and large operations attending the hearing said many small, rural farmers are difficult to contact and inform of the regulations.
“We have an educational job ahead of us to make sure people do comply,” Ross said.
Officials said they hope they will not need to use new enforcement to improve water quality.
“It’s a failure on our part when we have to bring an enforcement action,” Attorney General Bill Sorrell said.
Larry Gervais, 50, of Gervais Family Farm, a 1,700-head dairy farm in Bakersfield and Enosburg Falls, has planted cover crops and invested in a $250,000 in a drag line manure injection system.
“(But) some of the smaller farms have not had the education. Before you start enforcing something, they are going to need to know why you’re doing that,” Gervais said. “A lot of these smaller farms, they are working. They don’t have time to come to these meetings.”
In 2013, the state hired its first small farm inspector. The state is seeking explicit authority to enforce water quality laws on small farms. Ross said he has not personally seen any small farms that would not be able to comply with the water quality laws.
Some water bodies in Vermont will take more than one decade to recover, water quality scientists say, which has some farmers frustrated. One Swanton farmer said he invested up to one million dollars in pollution control measures but phosphorus concentrations have increased downstream.
Making matters worse, Gervais said heavy rainfall is causing more runoff from his farm.
“The annual rainfall in the Northeast is higher than it ever been,” he said. “We have no control over it.”
