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As part of a multi-pronged approach to reducing nutrients in the Chesapeake Bay, the Maryland Department of the Environment continues to make significant progress in working with farmers to control runoff that could affect the waterway’s health.
Hundreds of farms have begun the process to be registered under MDE’s permit for animal feeding operations. And the Department is inspecting farms and reaching out to farmers through workshops.
Maryland’s water quality goals for the Chesapeake Bay require significant reductions in the amount of nutrients, mainly nitrogen and phosphorus, which reach the Bay. Excess levels of these nutrients are the primary cause of poor water quality in the Bay. Reducing these pollutants has been a major focus for Maryland and the other Bay watershed jurisdictions.
Maryland is developing a Watershed Implementation Plan to restore the Chesapeake Bay. MDE’s multi-faceted effort involves reducing nutrients from wastewater treatment plants, septic systems, and urban and surburban stormwater runoff. It also includes work to reduce vehicle and power plant emissions, which include nitrogen that can be deposited into the waterways. Concentrated Feeding Operations, or CAFOs, are a large source of these nutrients.
Since early 1996, MDE has regulated CAFOs to reduce nutrient runoff. Initial regulations only applied to large cattle and swine operations. However, as a result of changes to U. S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations in 2008, Maryland’s regulations were modified to add most of the state’s poultry industry to the operations regulated by MDE. MDE’s CAFO program was approved by the EPA in January 2009, and the Department’s General Discharge Permit for Animal Feeding Operations became effective in December of that year, making Maryland the first Bay state to have a federally approved CAFO permit. The conditions in the CAFO General Permit require practices and controls that assure that CAFOs do not pollute surface waters or the groundwater.
New stormwater plan for poultry houses
MDE, in conjunction with the Maryland Department of Agriculture, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the Soil Conservation Districts (SCDs), recently published a standard plan to control stormwater runoff from new poultry houses on Maryland’s eastern shore. The plan, which is to be used by SCDs, county stormwater management authorities, and designers, reflects the heightened requirements of the Stormwater Management Act of 2007.
Farming in Maryland
In 2009, Maryland farms grew 1.4 billion pounds of broilers, produced 554 million eggs, and raised 68.8 million pounds of cattle and calves and 15.3 million pounds of hogs, according to the U. S. Department of Agriculture. For 2009, the farm receipts for broilers, eggs, cattle, and hogs were $640 million, $33 million, $48 million, and $7 million, respectively. Also, farmers grow corn and soybeans to support the livestock industry.
In Maryland, a majority of CAFO operations raise poultry on the Eastern Shore for poultry integrators. The manure generated by these farms contains nitrogen and phosphorus and is generally used as a fertilizer to grow feed for the animals and other food crops. Pollution can occur when the applications of manure or chemical fertilizer supplements exceeds the recommendations in the farms’ nutrient management plans (NMPs).
NMPs have been required on most farms in Maryland by the Maryland Department of Agriculture since 1998. They prescribe how much nitrogen, phosphorus, and other nutrients are needed to grow the crops. If too much fertilizer – manure or chemical – is applied, the crops can’t uptake all of it and stormwater runoff can carry the excess nutrients to local waterways and, eventually, the Bay. Even when nutrients are applied within recommended rates, if they are applied improperly – such as too close to ditches or streams – nutrients can enter surface water or groundwater.
The Maryland Department of Agriculture, the United States Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service, the University of Maryland Extension Service, Delmarva Poultry Industry Inc., and other organizations have provided technical assistance to MDE and have informed the state’s agriculture community. This has led to great strides in the CAFO program in a short time, including:
- Nearly 600 farms have applied for registration under the CAFO General Permit
- Nearly 300 of those farms have completed their General Permit application requirements, and MDE has issued 52 permits
- Approximately 1,000 farmers have attended workshops and seminars for the CAFO program, with portions of some presentations being translated into languages such as Vietnamese and Korean
- More than 300 farms have been inspected by CAFO program personnel.
The efforts of the CAFO program have led to a greater awareness by farmers of best management practices to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus entering the Chesapeake Bay via farm runoff. A primary goal of the program is to promote maximum implementation of these practices to help further reduce the potential for excess nutrients to reach the Bay.
Much of the farming activity on the Eastern Shore supports the poultry industry. Corn, soybeans, and other crops that are seen in fields across the Shore are mostly grown to feed the chickens. The economy of Maryland’s Eastern Shore relies on the poultry industry, and MDE will continue to work with the agricultural community in an ongoing effort to reduce the levels of nutrients entering the Chesapeake Bay from CAFO operations.
For questions about the CAFO program, contact Gary Kelman, Head of the CAFO Section, at: Gary.Kelman@maryland.gov.
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