Dover, DE - Poultry growers and processors across the country are trying to develop a uniform plan to handle agricultural runoff in hopes of avoiding new federal rules they fear could be costly, or state-by-state rules that could create a competitive imbalance.
The Clinton administration has targeted agriculture runoff as one of the biggest threats to water quality. The federal Environmental Protection Agency and Agriculture Department are expected to release a draft report in the next few weeks outlining a broad strategy for reducing nutrient runoff from livestock and poultry operations. A final plan is due in November.
Meanwhile, some states, such as Maryland, have been addressing problems associated with nutrient runoff from chicken manure with their own regulations.
Since early this year, poultry groups -- including the National Broiler Council, the National Turkey Federation and the U.S. Poultry and Egg Association -- have been discussing how to change their operations to better protect water and soil quality.
“The purpose is to come up with a set of guidelines that could be adopted on a voluntary basis,” said Richard Lobb, a spokesman for the National Broiler Council. “We know this is an issue. The industry wants to be part of the solution.”
But the process has exposed regional differences. Two weeks ago in Birmingham, Ala., participants were unable to reach a consensus.
They are still grappling with questions about funding -- who will pay for research into new technologies and educational programs, as well as new nutrient management plans geared more for controlling phosphorous runoff, as opposed to current plans that focus on nitrogen.
And there are questions about alternative uses for chicken manure, such as burning it for energy instead of simply spreading it on farms as fertilizer.
“Everybody had been looking at this as a local issue,” said Steve Corazza, who raises about 112,000 roasters for Perdue, a major processor, at his Townsend, Del., farm. “It is building consensus in an industry that has been extremely independent.”
On the Delmarva peninsula, encompassing Delaware and far eastern Maryland and Virginia, farmers and processors have been particularly sensitive to issues relating to nutrient runoff over the last year. Regional outbreaks of Pfiesteria piscicida, a toxic microorganism that kills fish, have been linked by some scientists to farm nutrients.
“We want to come up with something that tells EPA we're doing something,” said Bill Satterfield, executive director of Delmarva Poultry Industry Inc., a trade organization.
Corazza, who has gone to several poultry industry meetings as an observer for the Delaware Farm Bureau, said EPA officials have made it clear they are not interested in harsh regulations or a mandatory program. Instead, the agency wants the industry to adopt a voluntary compliance system.
Under that system, processors, who own the chickens and the feed, would include industry-set nutrient rules in their contracts with growers. Federal regulators could stay out of it.
But Corazza said the EPA wants to make sure the whole industry is taking part and that there are ways to punish growers who do not comply with the contract rules.
Meat Industry Insights News Service
P.O. Box 553
Northport, NY 11768
Phone: 631-757-4010
Fax: 631-757-4060
E-mail: sflanagan@sprintmail.com
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