Warren AGRICULTURE In The News

Local farms avoiding runoff pollution
Waste products kept on farm to aid soil
By COLIN KYLER ckyler@timesobserver.com  Times Observer
POSTED: October 6 2009.  Used with permission

For much of rural America, water pollution from farm runoff is a serious problem, blamed for such things as the decline of the Chesapeake Bay, for instance.

The New York Times recently reported water pollution from farm runoff goes largely unregulated, prompting questions around the country about the effect of agriculture on water cleanliness.

Natural Resources Conservation Service Warren District Conservationist Laura Agnew said the county does not have a problem with agricultural runoff causing pollution.

Instead, the county has small family farms with an adequate land base to dispose of manure.

While manure is often regarded as a waste product, Agnew said it is full of nutrients and organic matter.

When it is properly applied to the land, it can enrich soil and support crops to feed the animals.

"While there is potential for runoff following manure application to fields, many farmers are adopting new conservation practices to retain the nutrients on the land," Agnew said.

Such practices include nutrient management plans, no-till and cover cropping.

In addition, Agnew said other practices are being used by farmers to protect the resources on the farm and also those of their downstream neighbors.

"These practices include riparian buffers, crop rotations, contour strip cropping and rotational grazing," she said.

The Warren County Conservation District and the local USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service work with farmers in the county to do conservation planning and to implement many of these practices on their farms, Agnew said.

Pennsylvania Conservation Commission Nutrient Management Program Director Doug Goodlander said his department requires high-density animal operations to develop plans to manage the manure produced from their animals.

While Warren County does not have any farms which are considered high-density, defined as 2,000 pounds of live weight per acre, Goodlander said there are three farms in the county which volunteer for the program.

The 2,000 pounds would mean about 14 hogs, one and a half cows, 650 chickens or two horses per acre.

"The idea is when farms have more than that, it exceeds the ability of the land to turn the manure into crops, Goodlander said.

Volunteers become eligible for financial assistance, Goodlander said.

The state has around 1,000 high-density animal operations and 1,500 more volunteers, Goodlander said.

"I think farmers are recognizing the necessity to make sure they are doing the right things to protect water quality," he said.
Source link: http://timesobserver.com/page/content.detail/id/522680.html

Conservation Tour offers sampling of programs
By COLIN KYLER ckyler@timesobserver.com  Times Observer
POSTED: September 14 2009.  Used with permission
Source link: http://timesobserver.com/page/content.detail/id/521716.html?nav=5006

The Warren County Conservation District hosted its annual conservation tour Saturday.

Conservation District Manager Heather Wilcox said the tour would contain a sample of programs the district has worked on in the past year.

"One of our goals is to educate people about our efforts to reduce non-point source pollution," she said. "Non-point source pollution is pollution which can't be pinpointed to a source."

Everyone is responsible for it, Wilcox emphasized.

"It's the nature of human activity," she said. "Today, we'll look at places where they've tried to reduce non-point source pollution."

Wilcox said she hoped participants would pick up on something they can do themselves or influence neighbors to do.

Office Manager Judy Froman gave a presentation on plastics pollution.

"It is hazardous to people and the environment," she said. "A throw-away lifestyle began in the '50s and continues today."

In that time, the majority of the plastics produced are still on the Earth, Froman said.

"They're not like paper," she said. "They don't biodegrade. They're made from oil, a non-renewable resource."

Froman said plastic stays around for at least 1,000 years.

"They escape landfills and get in our oceans," she said. "Plastic bags look like jellyfish to animals."

Animals can get tangled up in plastics and try to eat them.

"Birds will try to eat lighters, toothbrushes and bottle caps," she said. "They block their intestines and cause malnutrition. They feed them to their young."  [For more information, see: Saving the World – One Plastic Bag at a Time by Judy Froman.]

The tour stopped at Warren Commons where District Technician Josh Dean discussed the storm water management system there.

"Half of the water from the site goes to the Conewango Creek," he said. "There's an underground filtration system with plastic cones stacked on top of each other."

Dean also talked about the community gardens at the Hatch Run Conservation Demonstration Area.

"Last year was the first year for the gardens," he said. "There were ten plots and they were all rented out. This year, we have 18."

The potatoes and tomatoes were struck with blight, Dean said.

"We requested renters dig those plants up," he said. "It's a shame because some people had nice tomato plants."

Agricultural Conservation Technician Michael Wright discussed the cattle in the grazing area.

"There's been some mowing but no chemical fertilizer on the land," he said. "If we wanted them to eat weeds down, we'd take away some of the area they have to work with."

Wright said the goal was for the animals to take half and leave half of the plants.

"They could graze until Christmas time," he said. "The ground's solid enough it won't turn to mud."

Beef cows do not need to be fed grain, Wright said.

"Grass doesn't produce cookie-cutter animals," he said. "They have different back fat cover."

Farmers granted disaster aid
By LYDIA COTTRELL lcottrell@timesobserver.com   Times Observer
POSTED: August 27, 2009.  Used with permission
Source link: http://www.timesobserver.com/page/content.detail/id/520979.html

According to the office of Congressman Glenn Thompson (R-5), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) granted disaster designation to Warren, Erie and Susquehanna counties due to losses caused by severe weather that occurred in May 2009.

The designation in Pennsylvania was the result of a letter from New York Governor David Paterson which requested the same designation for counties in his state. The USDA determined that contiguous counties in Pennsylvania also qualified.

"This means that farmers in the three Pennsylvania counties can apply for Farm Service Agency emergency loans immediately and for the new Supplemental Revenue Assistance Program (SURE) that was approved as part of the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008," said Thompson. "However, the Department is in the process of developing regulations and software for the SURE program and it will not be available until later this year."

According to Bob Brown, farm loan manager for the USDA office in Meadville, the disaster loan fund can be used to restore or replace essential property, pay production costs associated with the disaster, pay essential family living expenses, reorganize the farming operation and refinance certain debts.

"The disaster program is very important to our area farmers in that it allows our agency to use low interest rate loans to help farmers recover from a disaster," Brown said. "Current interest rates are 3.75 percent for disaster loans and producers can borrow up to 100 percent of actual production or physical losses, to a maximum amount of $500,000."

As with any loan, there are certain requirements. For example, collateral is required and borrowers must keep acceptable farm records.

"Borrowers may be required to participate in a financial management-training program and obtain crop insurance," Brown added.

The disaster designation for the contiguous counties was warranted due to the frost, freezes and high winds that occurred during the ten-day period from May 16 through May 26.

Further information regarding farm assistance loans can be obtained by calling the Crawford County office of the USDA at 814-336-2127

Area farmers can qualify for federal disaster loans
By DEAN WELLS dwells@timesobserver.com   Times Observer
POSTED: June 17, 2009.  Used with permission

Farmers in Warren and McKean Counties are in line for federal farm disaster loans due to losses suffered from excessive snowfall over the winter.

U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson announced on Tuesday that U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack declared that Warren and McKean Counties are covered under a disaster designation due to any losses caused by snow. The designation was the result of a letter sent to the department by New York Gov. David Paterson, who requested the designation for Cattaraugus County.

Vilsack approved the request and extended the declaration to the following contiguous counties in New York and Pa.: Alleghany, Chautauqua, Erie, Wyoming, Warren and McKean.

Under the declaration, agricultural producers in the counties are eligible to be considered for Farm Service Agency (FSA) emergency loans and the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Program (SURE) that was approved as part of the 2008 Farm Bill.

According to Thompson, the emergency loans will be available "right away," while the FSA funding will be available later this year.

For more information, call 717-237-2157 or visit www.fsa.usda.gov.

LOTS OF FUN AT FOURTH ANNUAL AG DAY Ag Day at the Warren Mall
by Ann R. Swanson

Ann Swanson is a writer and popular columnist for the Times Observer.   Visit her website, hickoryheightsbooks.com for information on her books and articles. She can be contacted at hickoryheights1@verizon.net.

People want to know where their food comes from, and sustainable agriculture is providing that option.

"There is definitely a growing interest in the country on how our food is produced," said Dana Ekey of Warren County's Penn State Extension Office. "More farms are getting into the philosophy of sustainable agriculture and there are several farms that currently use this practice in our area as well."

In Warren County, said Ekey, the premier farms that practice sustainable agriculture include Meldick Farms and Stoney Creek Farm, both in Pine Grove Township, and Big Horn Ranch in Pittsfield Township.

According to Ekey, sustainable agriculture integrates three main goals: environmental stewardship, farm profitability and prosperous farming communities.

"Sustainable agriculture is a philosophy or an attitude adopted by the farmer, usually characterized by an intention to operate the farm holistically," said Ekey. "Ultimately, any sustainable farmer or farm is attempting to achieve the best possible agricultural result over the longest time span imaginable. Sustainable agriculture refers to the ability of a farm to produce food indefinitely, without causing severe or irreversible damage to ecosystem health."

Dick Burlingame of Stoney Creek Farm, which has been a sustainable farm since 1991, said, "We really liked the philosophy of making our farm self-sufficient and less reliant on chemical or fossil fuel use. It was a way to maximize our farm and the resources that we had. The benefits that I view from sustainable agriculture is that it's both ecologically sound and safer."

"Sustainable agriculture's holistic approach can be useful for the whole environment," said Ekey.

According to Regina Weiss, communications director of the non-profit organization Sustainable Table, sustainable farming practices result in food, whether meat, dairy or produce, that is unlikely to be contaminated with chemical pesticides, herbicides or artificial hormones and that was raised using methods that protect the environment.

"Sustainable farming enriches and preserves soil fertility through methods including waste recycling, such as composting and mulching as well as planting cover crops that increase soil fertility," said Weiss. "Sustainable farming replenishes some resources, most notably the soil. However, its greatest benefit is what it does not do. It does not pollute waterways or the air with toxic chemicals, either from fertilizers, pesticides, or animal waste."

Financially, said Ekey, sustainable agriculture can be expensive for both farmers and consumers.

"This is a tricky question," said Ekey. "Compared to conventional food in the grocery store produced from industrial agricultural methods of farming, food produced from sustainable agriculture methods will usually cost more. However, some would argue that the long-term costs of industrial agriculture are greater. From a consumer point of view, sustainable foods will usually cost more than "regular" food in a grocery store. If the only thing you're comparing is the price of the food, conventional food is usually cheaper. But some people would say there are hidden costs with industrial agriculture which will end up costing society more in the long run."

At the heart of sustainable agriculture, said Ekey, is the notion of "buying local."

It is noted in a 2006 study of Pennsylvania farms, said Ekey, that farm production during that year was $5.6 billion and Warren County shared $20.9 million of it.

"Money made on the farms is circulated back into local communities," said Weiss, who believes that sustainable agriculture is an integral part of the community. "Since 1950, millions of sustainable family farms have disappeared, but the latest federal farm census, released in February, showed an encouraging reversal of this trend. There was a net gain of 75,810 farms nationwide from 2002 through 2007. Much of that gain was in the small family farms that are most likely to use sustainable farming practices and sell the food they produce locally and regionally."

Burlingame said he has seen sustainable agriculture be a good market for the local community as well.

"There is a social aspect," said Burlingame. " Sustainable agriculture tries to revitalize the community farms and keep them alive well into the future."