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Accountability & Reporting of Agricultural Conservation BMPs in Virginia Rappahannock River Basin Commission

Accountability & Reporting of Agricultural Conservation BMPs in Virginia Rappahannock River Basin Commission. December 2, 2009 Jack E. Frye Division Director Soil & Water Conservation. The Issue.

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Accountability & Reporting of Agricultural Conservation BMPs in Virginia Rappahannock River Basin Commission

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  1. Accountability & Reporting of Agricultural Conservation BMPs in VirginiaRappahannock River Basin Commission December 2, 2009 Jack E. Frye Division Director Soil & Water Conservation

  2. The Issue We lack the ability to account and report (get credit for) the overall adoption and use of agricultural best management practices by Virginia farmers. We estimate that BMP adoption by farmers could easily be twice what we are able to account for and track through state & federal incentive programs.

  3. Presentation Overview • What are agricultural BMPs? • Five “Priority Practice” BMPs • What we wish we knew. • Who collects BMP data? • BMP reporting & audit need

  4. What are “Agricultural BMPs” • Practices implemented by farmers designed to: • control topsoil loss & improve soil quality • reduce loss of excess nutrients into the state waters • reduce bacteria to state waters • enhance or integrate with farm production practices • “Science-based” management developed and spread from land grant universities (through Cooperative Extension Service) • Many protect and improve farm productivity • On & off farm environmental benefits

  5. Agricultural BMPs in Virginia --The Big Picture • ~ 47,383 Virginia farmers (2007 Ag census) • Virginia’s Ag BMP Manual –establishes standards & specifications for a comprehensive suite of over 60 BMPs • Incentive options for farmers vary; 34 of the BMPs contained in the manual provide a cost-shared or flat-rate incentive payment • 3 basic BMP categories: • management practices: nutrient management, conservation tillage, winter cover on cropland • engineered practices: animal waste control facility, livestock watering system • land conversion: cropland or pasture to riparian buffer or forest

  6. Virginia Agricultural BMPs(a sample of practices in BMP manual) • Cover Crops • Continuous No-till System • Nutrient Management Planning • Filter Strip • Riparian Forest Buffer • Stripcropping Systems • Livestock Stream Exclusion • Alternative Watering Systems • Stream Protection • Stream Crossing & Hardened Access • Animal Waste Control Facility • Sinkhole Protection • Loafing Lot Management System • Permanent Vegetative Cover of Critical Areas

  7. 5 Priority Ag BMPsVirginia adopted a strategy to promote 5 accepted and effective practices: • Cover Crops (winter cover) • Conservation Tillage (no-till) • Nutrient Management (plan & implement) • Riparian (streamside) Vegetative Buffers • Livestock Exclusion (livestock watering systems/streamside fencing) >90% of Ag acres in Bay need BMPs to meet goals (current status varies by practice, estimate 30-40%, but we don’t know)

  8. Voluntary, short-term or annually renewed BMPs (unlike upgrades at wastewater treatment plants which are permanent; monitored & reported annually) BMP Tracking & Reporting: No comprehensive and ongoing tracking & reporting system, only on paid BMPs within lifespan; no overall assessment of applied conservation. Major problem with goal achievement Ag BMP Implementation Issues

  9. What we wish we knew… How many cropland acres in each county are managed with conservation tillage; cover crops; nutrient management? Where are the acres that are managed to an acceptable standard and those that would benefit from an increase the level of conservation efforts? How many miles of streams are there and how many have riparian vegetative buffers established? How many miles of streams with livestock access in each county – streams in pastures? Where are they excluded and where is exclusion needed?

  10. Who collects Ag BMP data? • DCR and VA Soil & Water Conservation Districts • VA Dept. of Forestry (stream buffers) • USDA-NRCS (EQIP, CRP, CREP) • USDA-FSA (crop insurance program) Data collected is for practices implemented through cost-sharing and other programs.

  11. Presidential Ex. Order 13508 • Draft Strategy for Protecting and Restoring the Chesapeake Bay, Part 3, Item 2.E. Implement a sound accountability system • Draft Section202b Report –Focusing Resources to Restore and Protect the Chesapeake Bay and its Tributary Waters; Recommendation V: Implement a sound system of accountability

  12. So…what does Virginia need? • County level agricultural acreage accounting system. • Details on implemented priority BMPs; spatial and quality (to standards?) Would require some form of farm-level reporting system that is annually updated OR remote sensing analysis of aerial photos; either must be auditable to provide “reasonable assurance”. (Require funding and staffing)

  13. Madison County Land Use:2008 Nonpoint Source Assessment • 567 Farms • 102,757 Acres

  14. Madison County Estimated Animal Inventory

  15. Madison County Priority Practices(active as of 2008) • Cover Crops: 1,515 acres under contract • Livestock Exclusion: 36 miles of protected streambank, 3,400 acres of associated grazing improvement • Conservation Tillage: 110 acres under contract • Nutrient Management: 648 acres under contract • Riparian Buffers: 6 acres under contract

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