The Boondocks blog, No. 36 for the week starting August 20, 2007.
Auburn Citizen's Series on the New CAFO Regs
Energy looks at high energy prices and our future.
Enviroman looks at man and the environment.
Hayseeds looks at politics and life in our nation.
Individual looks at myself and how I'm changing
Outblog is all about my outdoor experiences.
Transit looks at the changing ways we get around.
Truck gives you stories and trips in my Ford Ranger.
As you may have seen online last weekend, they ran a series of articles on the new requirements for all CAFO farms in New York.
As you may know, New York has fairly strong regulations regarding run-off pollution from medium-sized dairies and other farms in our state. We are less aggressive then some New England states like Vermont, but still regulate more then states to our south and west.
Large dairies or CAFOs in the traditional sense, with 700 head of cattle or more have been regulated and inspected in New York State since 1999. Before 1999, there were minimal previsions regarding best farming pratices, but not codified the way New York did after that point.
The 1999 regulations required all large CAFOs to have nuteriant management plans drawn up by agricultural planners and be subject to random inspection for complaince by DEC CAFO inspectors, much like all dairies are subject to inspection by milk inspectors.
These plans looked at where and how manure was being stored, applied, and what kind of set backs between fields and waterbodies that could be containimated by phorphus and nitrogen in the nutrient-rich manure. As they say—too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. Manure when it gets into water spawns algea, which in turn rots and consumes lots of oxygen. That kills fish and other animal life.
Most people didn't raise too much complaints about big farm manure regulations. 700 head or more is a lot of cattle. They also could be significant polluters. Things changed when the next part of the law started to go into effect which would extend those provisions to smaller dairies and other farms with 200 cattle or more. That's still a lot of stock, but also it effects a lot more people.
Former Governor Pataki sat on those regulations for medium size CAFOs or as some people call them Medium Farming Operations MFOs. The public submitted comments, the DEC drafted regulations, and the Pataki leadership at DEC sat on them. Nothing happened until this summer with the Spitzer DEC.
This July saw the MFO regulations going into effect, with the requirement that MFO farms have nutreutant plans in effect, comply with the MFO regulations, and be subject to random inspections. This also required that fairs and other agricultural events—even if only a week in duration—have to apply with hte MFO regs.
Vermont has significantly more stringent regulations. They implemented their CAFO program about five years before New York, and have a complete ban on manure application from Dec 15 to March 15, and their standards are significantly tougher. That's why so many Vermont farmers bring their manure to New York for land application/disposal in winter months.
