Farmers and Me
Published in Spinsheet - February 2015
Morbid curiosity must have been the motive. I work in the Department of Agriculture at a university with a large farm and dairy. We also happen to be located in a county with agricultural land use well over 50%. Much of the county borders rivers, lakes and streams. So much so that the word I hear is, “no body of water is more then a mile apart.” The university farm snakes along thousands of feet of river and operates a dairy grandfathered to sit on a one hundred year flood plane. I’ve had speculations on the impact of agricultural systems on our waterways and it was that curiosity that drove me to the NRCS (USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service). The activities of the NRCS support farms and homeowners with their impact on our environment and in early December I gained interviews with two of the leaders at our local office. The amount of agricultural land that borders water in our county assured my education.
In terms of environmental impacts of farms on waterways this is what I find:
The number one concern is erosion and sedimentation
Over 40% of the farms actively implement conservation methods
The highest culprits in sedimentation are row vegetable farms
Organic farms aren’t always sediment responsible farms
The USDA has lots of cost sharing programs to support farmers
Riparian buffers are one of the best ways farms can mitigate sediment
Cover crops and no till systems are common practices for retaining soil
Farmers still farm to close too ditches, streams and rivers
Social demands aren’t enough to create change we need stronger laws
Technology is the future for change and small farms will struggle due to costs.
There are copious programs farms can be involved in to demonstrate environmental consciousness
Last…farms as ‘the problem’ is perception not fact. Farmers need their soil to grow crops and dumping nitrogen on fields costs them money. Farmers are educated and using conservation practices already. Need they make more progress? Sure, but its more likely construction and homeowners 100 miles away from the Bay who are creating the biggest pressures of nitrogen and sediment loading not the farms.
Now fast forward to December 23. My mouth went from jingle bells to sailor in the blink of an eye. My poor boys in the back seat privy to another rant as I passed an apartment complex “remedying” their surface water run off. This taking place in the ‘canoe capital of Virginia’ not three miles from the Shenandoah River. Building, parking lot and road water was being directed to swales, culverts and creeks. These previously grassy swales that managed the watershed must have been taking a beating during deluges. The solution, 6’ wide strips of 1’ riprap. I believe I blasted something to unsuspecting family like “sure blow a hole in my mountains for stone, truck it down here and build ugly rivers, void of bio diversity and the ability to naturally filter any surface water.” This scene flooding my mind while I freshly processed interviews from the NRCS. Over lunch I continued the rant, though soon cooling off. After all, these were folk attempting to do the best for erosion and run off. The contractor tried their best to satisfy a customer, a customer invested money in an attempt to better our environment and riprap does carry benefits. Like any good father with interest in mortifying his children I went back to the crime scene for photos and a walk around. After a tutorial to the boys on the dirty run off having no natural filtration system with oily, dirty water and silt flowing directly into the river and then to the Bay and how a natural system would not only be cheaper but more effective and much more beautiful, I had a moment of enlightenment. My oldest asked, “What can be done about it”? My answer, “educate”.
So here I beg of you my friends to spread the word. We are the culprits to the state of our Bay. It’s the little things we do in our communities and back yards, miles away from our sailing play ground, that have the largest impact. Before we spend monies on necessary environmental solutions consult professionals like: Environmental Designers, Landscape Architects/Designers, NRCS and the Ag Extension. Your local governmental has walls full of pamphlets on good water shed techniques. Their websites are full of proven systems that manage our surface water better and cheaper then the systems of yesteryear. Bio-swales, rain gardens and native plantings full of biodiversity to name a few. Farmers educate themselves, now it’s our turn.
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/site/md/home/
