ANNAPOLIS – Maryland’s farm community wants a two-year delay to carry out nutrient management plans, according to a proposal submitted Friday.
But Secretary of Agriculture Hagner R. Mister told lawmakers at a Rural Delegation meeting that the Department of Agriculture can get the job done by the Dec. 31 deadline because of increased resources from the state and broad discretion under the law.
Gov. Parris N. Glendening appropriated $1.3 million in the 2003 budget to help farmers develop nutrient management plans, which must be completed with the department’s help.
Still, Valerie Connelly, Maryland Farm Bureau’s lobbyist, said the regulations are inadequate for state farmers to comply with the year-end deadline.
“The farm community feels that there should be some changes to make it easier to meet the deadlines,” said Connelly, who presented a proposal on behalf of the 11-member Coalition to Improve Nutrient Management.
Under the Maryland Water Quality Improvement Act of 1998, farmers have until the end of this year to implement phosphorous and nitrogen run-off management plans.
The act was passed after a 1997 outbreak of toxic Pfiesteria piscicida, a microbe that blossoms in nutrient-rich waters, in the Chesapeake Bay. The microbe was linked to thousands of fish deaths in the Eastern Shore tributaries. However, the required run-off control plans angered many farmers, who already participated in a voluntary nutrient-management program.
“The department has gone from a partnership agency to a police agency,” said Senate Minority Leader J. Lowell Stoltzfus, R-Somerset, a supporter of the delay.
Of the 9,000 farms under the law, only 24 percent, or 2,152, submitted plans to the Department of Agriculture by the Dec. 31, 2001, deadline. Another 2,993 farms applied for a “justification for delay,” which excused them from the deadline while they continue to work on the plans.
Farmers who failed to meet the deadline face fines up to $250. The department said it would not enforce fines if farmers make good-faith efforts to devise a plan.
Under the two-year delay, the Department of Agriculture would not be able to inspect farms for compliance until after the new deadline. Farmers who have submitted nutrient-management plans would be expected to carry out their plans, Connelly said.
Delegates Paul Stull, R-Frederick, and Kenneth Schisler, R-Talbot, said they plan to draft legislation along the lines of the coalition’s recommendations and asked for the support of the rural delegates.
During his meetings with several farm groups, Stull said farmers complained there were not enough funds or expertise available in the state to help them with their plans. The law requires farmers develop plans in conjunction with certified and licensed nutrient management consultants.
Another complaint was the lack of sufficient information by the Department of Agriculture on the program, Stull said.
“I told everyone that (repealing the bill) was not an option and that they should come up with something else,” Stull said.
Another key recommendation in the proposal calls for the removal of a provision, which requires farmers to give officials permission to enter their property for inspection. The “right of entry” has become a point of major contention between farmers and the state, Stoltzfus said.
The department would be willing to explore the “right of entry” issue with the farm community, Mister told the lawmakers.
Delaying the plan deadline is not the solution, said Theresa Pierno, Maryland executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. The more reasonable path would be to push farmers who haven’t complied to sign up for plans, she said.
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