[T]he state Agriculture Agency has submitted its formal draft of new rules requiring small farms to follow the same management practices currently required of medium- and large-sized Vermont farms.
The formal draft rules contain a narrower definition of farms that would be subject to annual inspections to check compliance, but otherwise the latest draft differs little from an informal one released near the beginning of the year, officials say.
The rules represent “a serious commitment on the part of farmers in Vermont to step up to the plate and make a commitment to rigorous changes (in) farm management,” said Ryan Patch, senior agriculture development coordinator at the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets.
Under the proposed definitions, any farm pulling in $2,000 in gross income in an average year will be expected to follow what are called required agricultural practices. So, too, will any farm of 4 acres or more that holds four horses, or five bovine, or 100 laying hens, or 15 swine, or various numbers of other species that include crops and vegetables.
Another set of small farms called certified small farms must meet the same standards but will be subject to annual inspections to check compliance. Those farms cover at least 10 acres and have higher numbers of mature dairy cows, or swine weighing over 55 pounds, or turkeys or ducks, and so forth.
The change incorporated in the formal draft increases the gross animal weight for the definition of a certified small farm to 90,000 pounds, from 60,000 pounds, Patch said.
The required agricultural practices — formerly known as acceptable agricultural practices — will force farmers to manage manure and farmland more strictly. Currently, operations that under the new rules are called small farms must prevent discharge of pollutants into state waters, but how they do so has been largely up to farmers.
The rules require certified small farms to file a plan to manage manure, as well as annual reports on their operations. Owners of certified farms also must attend classes on practices meant to prevent unnecessary pollution. The latest draft of the rules also includes changes to manure stacking restrictions and to manure application standards.
The proposed rules grew out of extensive public engagement, said Chuck Ross, secretary of agriculture, food and markets.
The agency held more than 60 public meetings on the rule change, beginning last fall, Ross told legislators last month. Nearly 800 people attended, about half of them farmers, and the agency received almost 170 written public comments, according to agency documents.
Many of the proposed rules have existed in some form since at least 1986, although they’ve not yet been mandatory.
The changes were called for by a water quality bill passed last year called Act 64, which required this revamp of agricultural practices to be completed by July 1. Legislators this year extended that deadline to Sept. 15.
The Agriculture Agency released an informal draft Feb. 23 as part of a process it used to write the formal draft. It submitted the formal draft this month to the state’s Interagency Committee on Administrative Rules.
Public hearings on the formal draft of the new rules begin June 21 with a meeting at the St. Albans Historical Museum at 12:30 p.m. Four more hearings will be held over the following week in Brandon, South Royalton, Newport and Brattleboro. The public comment period on the rules ends July 7.
The formal draft rules, details on the meetings and instructions for commenting can be found here.
