You ’ve in all probability heard that theEnvironmental Protection Agencyhas put out tough new rules dealing with how livestockfarms must manage animate being waste to keep it from scat off into current , rivers or groundwater .
What you may not have hear is that the deadline for complying with those new principle is right around the box .
By February 27 , 2009 , several course of agrarian operation — including hard beast feeding operations ( CAFOs ) and farmers who put on manure to the land as a craw food — must take action .
CAFOs must either haveNational Pollution Discharge Elimination System ( NPDES ) permitsfor any discharges of manure runoff into water bodies or have third - party reviews and record book to show that they do not put down .
Farmer spreading manure need to have aNutrient Management Plan ( NMP)in place and they need to have records to turn out that their country program practices meet the terms of their NMP .
industriousness leadership say the ordinance are serious , and if you are n’t already in compliance , you require to take gradation to do so , as farmers and rancher could be slapped with tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines for discharges that occur without a permit .
The Next StepRick Swenson , director of the Animal Husbandry and Clean Water Division at USDA ’s Natural Resources Conservation Service , says the main thing farm animal producer should do is get an NMP or comprehensive NMP ( comprehensive NMPs are tailored for farm animal performance ) and experience how to use it : “ If you do nothing else but that , you ’re likely to exempt your fields from being regulated under the Clean Water Act . ”
You may opine that because your performance is n’t very gravid , the CAFO rule do n’t use to you . Think again , Swenson says .
“ If you confine animals for more than 45 day and there is n’t flora in the yield area , ” you fall under the new normal , he warn .
Parrish said it ’s mainly authoritative to determine whether there is the possibility of runoff — a discharge — either because of where and how you stack away manure or the layout of your cognitive process . Even if your operation is very small-scale , you could be regulated just as heavily as a large CAFO if you discharge manure runoff into any water body that finally connects to a navigable waterway regulated by the federal government under the Clean Water Act .
If you hive away manure in a barn or other traverse domain and you do n’t take it out to the ground ( i.e. , expose it to rain down ) until you ’re circularize it as plant food or sell it to someone else , you plausibly do n’t involve a permit , says Parrish .
You do still need to keep record book of what you ’re doing , and you should have a third - party listener recap your surgical process for any red flags .
“ Do n’t adopt you ’re in the clear , ” Parrish said . “ Every producer belike ought to go out front and have someone come out and look for the thing that the producer may not hitch on his own . ”
NRCS AssistanceLocal NRCS ( Natural Resources Conservation Service ) offices can help with doing on - farm evaluations , develop NMPs and giving producers a inclination of third - party proficient overhaul provider in their area .
Swenson say farmers should n’t hesitate to go into their local NRCS office and get some avail with their nutrient - direction provision .
NRCS is require to protect the confidentiality of Fannie Merritt Farmer ’ data . In fact , even if you apply for an NPDES license , you have to give the NMP information to the regulative agency because NRCS wo n’t .
“ We work with the environmental agency , but we work for the Fannie Farmer , ” Swenson underscore .
Swenson says his agency worked with EPA in developing the newfangled CAFO rule to assure farmers and rancher had somechoices in how to respondto it . He volunteer three options :
“ There are some farm that , because of their size , proximity to waters of the U.S. , or the kinds of soils and landscape they have that might increase the potential for a discharge , the only path to get protective cover from enforcement is to get a permit , ” he said .
NRCS is developing a pamphlet to help oneself you understand how the unexampled CAFO rule might impress you , what you need to do to abide by and where to get more information . The leaflet will be available in early 2009 .
