NEWS

Are farmers scapegoats for Shumlin enviro plans?

April Burbank
Free Press Staff Writer
  • Shumlin praised farmers%2C talked tougher on enforcement in inaugural address
  • Farmers%27 groups around Vermont are sharing water quality ideas
  • Manure spreaders use new methods%3A %22It%27s our lake%2C too.%22

MONKTON – When Gov. Peter Shumlin promises unprecedented support for Lake Champlain cleanup , as he did on inauguration day, he is depending on many farmers like Sam Burr.

On a bright winter morning last week, Burr stood in the fields of his organic vegetable and berry farm in Monkton called The Last Resort and explained how he had just finished investing thousands of dollars trying to prevent sediment from reaching Lake Champlain.

Water from Burr's fields falls into Pond Brook, which feeds into Lewis Creek and eventually meets the lake in Ferrisburgh.

"It's been identified as a real nutrient loader into the watershed," Burr said of Pond Brook during a Jan. 14 meeting of farmers in Vergennes. "As somebody who had a problem on my farm, I feel bad about that. ... Nobody likes to be identified as the person who is polluting a brook."

Burr filled six gullies with rocks and logs, hoping to slow and stop sediment before it reaches the brook. The project cost about $38,000, and Burr is optimistic that grant money essentially will cover the cost when final bills come due.

Burr presented a slide show about the project at the annual meeting of the Champlain Valley Farmer Coalition, a group of farmers concerned about water pollution.

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Several in the crowd lobbed skeptical questions: You spent all that money for 35 acres? How do you know the water won't just find another route down the hill? How long will it last before the logs rot?

Burr said he believes the effort was worthwhile, not least because it will prevent erosion from cutting into his vegetable and hay fields. He's waiting for data about whether the phosphorus levels of Pond Brook will change.

"One of the hard things about it is, it's taken a long time for the lake to show its problems," Burr said later. "It's not going to go away quickly."

Though the legislative session is just a few weeks old, water quality already has garnered plenty of attention.

The governor spotlighted the issue in his inaugural address and later announced millions of new federal dollars to boost the effort. A House water-quality bill that didn't make it through the Senate last session has reappeared in a new form.

The Last Resort Farm in Monkton.

The changes under discussion that would affect farmers include a fee on fertilizer to pay for lake cleanup; additional staff for the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets; and the possible loss of tax breaks if farmers fail to abide by regulations. Small farmers also might have to begin certifying with the state every five years that they meet the regulations.

"There is a new attitude emerging," said Rep. Carolyn Partridge, D-Windham, chairwoman of the House Committee on Agriculture and Forest Products. She believes groups including the Champlain Valley Farmer Coalition in northern Vermont are changing the tone of conversations about water quality to emphasize that everyone needs to be part of the solution. "There's a little bit less finger pointing," she said.

Burr is among the farmers who are comfortable, generally speaking, with an emphasis on agricultural water pollution — the ones who say it's about time the state got tough on enforcement.

But already there are signs of tension regarding particular programs, and the Vermont Farm Bureau is pushing back on the governor's ideas.

Optimism in Montpelier

Partridge said she hopes the General Assembly passes a water-quality bill this year that will set a framework for efforts in the years ahead.

Brian Kemp, one of the farmers Shumlin held up as a role model during his inaugural address, believes farmers are willing to work with the state.

"The majority of the farmers are very conscientious," said Kemp, who manages Mountain Meadows Farm in Sudbury and Orwell. He has worked to exclude animals from streams on the property, along with using other practices such as rotational grazing and barnyard improvements.

Even in the past five years, Kemp said, farmers have increased their investments in environmentally sound practices.

It remains to be seen whether early promises of collaboration fray this year when the agricultural community, environmentalists and lawmakers get down to details.

Agriculture Secretary Chuck Ross visited the Champlain Valley Farmer Coalition meeting and lauded the state's renewed commitment to stewardship and accountability.

"We've got ideas," Ross told the crowd, "but they're only as good as your participation."

Carrot and new stick

Gov. Shumlin announced in his inaugural address earlier this month that Vermont is "rapidly losing the battle for clean water" and asked the Legislature to allow the state to remove tax breaks from farms that are out of compliance with anti-pollution practices, using as leverage a program called the use value appraisal program, or "current use."

Through the current-use program, Vermont taxes agricultural and forest land at a lower rate than the land would be taxed at fair market value for development potential.

Shumlin's administration has proposed kicking farmers out of the program if they fail repeatedly to follow state standards for farming known as accepted agricultural practices. Farmers have to maintain buffer strips between cropland and waterways, for example, and keep manure away from streams.

Sam Burr of Last Resort Farm in Monkton has gotten grants to improve the drainage from his fields to Pond Brook.

Environmental groups cheered the governor's plans.

"If we take farmers at their word, they shouldn't have anything to worry about. It's absolutely reasonable," said Christopher Kilian of the Conservation Law Foundation. "Why would we provide what is essentially a temporary commitment, a tax break for farmers, with no strings attached if there's a real opportunity to see water quality improvements there?"

But Burr, the farmer in Monkton, calls the current-use program a "pretty blunt tool" for environmental enforcement. The state has other tools to use, he said.

The Vermont Farm Bureau, which represents more than 4,000 farmers and other members, already feels under attack.

"Throwing people out of current use because of a water-quality regulation is a bad idea," said Clark Hinsdale, a dairy farmer in Charlotte and president of the Vermont Farm Bureau. Farmers who pollute need to be fined, he said, "but we shouldn't be throwing land resources to the wolves."

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Hinsdale's organization believes that instead of threatening farmers with removal of tax incentives, the state needs to put more resources into educating them.

Many small farmers, he said, still mistakenly believe they're exempt from accepted agricultural practices that have been in place for years.

"Shuffling a bunch of paper is not going to clean up the lake," Hinsdale said. "Getting intelligent people who are trained in agronomic practices out into the countryside to deal with it is wonderful."

He added: "We don't think his ideas are going to promote the environment and agriculture in Vermont right now."

The state Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets agrees that more education is needed — but Secretary Chuck Ross contends the state has been boosting enforcement and education already. The new tax provision would be just one more tool to keep farmers in line.

"The Shumlin administration is proposing a significant ramp up in the state's commitment to water quality, having recognized that we've over-promised for decades and under-resourced," Ross said.

Sam Burr of Last Resort Farm in Monkton.

The state has yet to say exactly how the tax breaks would be linked to compliance with accepted agricultural standards. The House water-quality bill would allow the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets to decide how to link the two systems by January 2016.

Another one of the governor's proposals — to impose a fee on fertilizer to raise about $1.2 million — also is raising some eyebrows.

"There's a general sense in my committee that that is not really a fair or reasonable way to raise the money, because it's going to hit the larger farmers harder," said Partridge, the head of the House Agriculture Committee.

She said the committee will be working to come up with alternatives.

Beyond finger pointing

In Cornwall, Matthew Severy is a seventh-generation Vermonter who runs an agricultural trucking company with the eighth generation — his son, Eric.

Matt Severy of Cornwall uses a combination of drag-hose and injection technology to deliver manure to farm fields. Those methods produce less run-off than traditional surface spraying.

They're not farmers, but they play a critical role in farming operations in Addison County and elsewhere. Their company provides a particular type of custom manure spreading service. Instead of spreading the manure over the ground, their equipment incorporates it with the soil when corn fields are tilled.

This method makes more sense for soil quality, Severy said, and the manure is much less likely to run off into waterways.

Together, the two have invested about half a million dollars, by Severy's estimate, in the manure-injection equipment. It's more expensive, more complicated and requires more expertise than traditional manure spreading.

"If it was easy, everybody would do it," he said.

Matt Severy of Cornwall uses a combination of drag-hose and injection technology to deliver manure to farm fields. Those methods produce less run-off than traditional surface spraying.

Severy said he'll be looking to new funding sources to buy more injection equipment. Vermont recently announced $16 million in federal funds that farmers can apply for later this spring, and Severy said he might seek a piece.

Eric Severy, the younger of the business partners, thinks farmers' attitudes about manure have changed significantly even in the past couple years.

Like many in Vermont's agricultural community , the Severys want the public to know that they do care about water quality. They acknowledge they have contributed to the problem, but they're willing to be part of the solution.

"It only takes one or two black sheep to ruin it for all the people that are doing it right," Matthew Severy said, "and that really irritates me."

Added his son: "It's our lake, too."

Contact April Burbank at 802-660-1863 or aburbank@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AprilBurbank.

Matt Severy of Cornwall uses a combination of drag-hose and injection technology to deliver manure to farm fields. Those methods produce less run-off than traditional surface spraying.