Several months ago, not long after the StormCon conference in Portland, OR, I wrote about the discrepancy in how stormwater is regulated for urban areas and construction sites versus agricultural lands. The Clean Water Act essentially exempts most agricultural operations, and this has been a topic of discussion at StormCon—and one attendees have challenged EPA representatives at the conference to address—for several years.
EPA maintains that voluntary programs help the ag community meet water-quality goals. Several such programs offer financial or technical assistance to farmers, such as Conservation Innovation Grants available through the Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service and NRCS’s Conservation Partnership Initiative. The key is that they’re voluntary, and despite the resources they offer, we still see problems caused largely by nutrients in agricultural runoff like the dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico and the recent algal blooms in Lake Erie.
Now there is one more effort in the mix, and although participation is once again voluntary, there are several things about it that might have appeal where other programs don’t take hold. It’s known as the 4Rs Nutrient Stewardship Certification program, and it encourages farmers to “use the right source of fertilizer at the right rate, at the right time, and in the right place.” Its single goal is to limit nutrients in runoff.
What’s different about the 4Rs program is that is led largely from within the agricultural industry itself, although its advisory committee also includes several state governments, farm bureaus, and The Ohio State University. The program offers certification, but not, as you might expect, to farmers themselves; instead local “crop advisers,” each of whom works with about 100 farmers in a single region, obtain the certification and pass their knowledge along. The campaign’s advice is hands-on and attuned to everyday concerns; for example, although most farmers recognize that applying fertilizer on frozen ground causes more of it to run off, they also know that such application is often more practical; in the clay soils of many parts of the Midwest, driving over soft—that is, non-frozen—ground compacts the soil, which has its own set of consequences, so frozen-ground application is faster and easier. The advisers need to be able to address that tradeoff, as well as to offer ways to make the same amount of fertilizer go further, such as by injecting it into the soil.
The 4R program also puts faces with the effort—and, significantly, they’re the faces of working farmers rather than regulators. One of these is Carrie Vollmer-Sanders, who farms in northwest Ohio. She is also currently the director of the Western Lake Erie Basin Project for The Nature Conservancy; she worked with farmers, agribusinesses, researchers, government agencies, and conservation groups to set up the 4Rs program. The program and its members are gaining recognition, and she recently received an award for conservation leadership from the White House. Her approach to the nutrient problem is both practical and not too far-reaching; she said in a recent interview in The Nature Conservancy magazine that she doesn’t think it’s possible—and she would not attempt—to radically change how large farms operate or to get them to stop using fertilizers altogether and go organic, but she knows she can effect incremental change. “When you want to get the dents out of the can, you kick it from the inside,” she said.
I still believe more oversight of the ag industry, with permits similar to NPDES MS4 permits for municipalities, is necessary. Until that happens, programs like this that address problems in a realistic way, and that have credibility with the farmers whose practices they’re trying to change, hold some promise for improving water quality.
Are you aware of other programs in your area that are making progress with runoff quality from agricultural lands? Leave a comment below.
Janice Kaspersen
Janice Kaspersen is the former editor of Erosion Control and Stormwater magazines.