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FARM & HOME ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS
This quarterly electronic newsletter of FARM & HOME ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS aims to inform interested readers about voluntary pollution prevention programs around the nation and about new research and policy impacting the management of environmental risk on farms and in homes. To subscribe or unsubscribe to this online newsletter, for more information, or to contribute to this newsletter, please refer to our website (http://www.uwex.edu/farmandhome/), or email editor Mrill Ingram mingram@wisc.edu We welcome comments and feedback!
USDA-CSREES, USDA-NRCS, and the U.S. EPA provide support for our programs.
Farm and Home Environmental Management Programs
Room 303
Hiram Smith Hall
1545 Observatory Drive
Madison, WI
53706
Phone: 608-262-0024
FAX:
608-265-2775
Website:http://www.uwex.edu/farmandhome/
STORIES
North Carolina Home*A*Syst Offers New Stormwater Resources Program
A new program has been developed to help communities respond to federal mandates on stormwater management. The North Carolina program features a website that has downloads of materials, video, and a public service announcement. The "Stormwater Resources" site is designed for stormwater officials, real estate professionals, and homeowners in need of technical assistance on stormwater issues. According to Grace Lawrence, Extension Associate at North Carolina State University, the program aims to help communities satisfy the educational and outreach component of the US-EPA's Phase II stormwater rules. "This is the result of a collaboration between North Carolina State University's Departments of Soil Science and Biological and Agricultural Engineering," she says, "and relies on Cooperative Extension to promote and share the program with counties, towns, and cities affected by Phase II."
County and town managers and planners have been notified and presented to about the Stormwater Resources program as well as county commissioners and other elected officials. Presentations have been made to wide audiences in Asheville and Charlotte, and New Hanover County and Henderson County have used the video and PSA on their government cable access channels. Some local governments use the video as a training tool for their departments.
Reports Susan Buck of University of North Carolina at Greensboro, "I've shown the stormwater video several times in my Intro to Environmental Studies class because it introduces students to an issue that isn't covered in my other course materials -- they are especially taken with the shots in the sewers. It has been very useful."
To read more about the EPA Stormwater Rules, visit, http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater/swphases.cfm. You can visit North Carolina's Stormwater Resources Page at: www.bae.ncsu.edu/stormwater/.
Communications on a Farm-How an EMS can Support Better Understanding
Communicating with others who live and work on a farming operation might seem like a simple matter of talking - but these "internal communications" can be one of a farm's biggest headaches and the source of some of the biggest environmental risks. Sometimes talking with the people you work closest to requires more than just a chat -- more formal arrangements for exchanging ideas and information are needed.
As part of the Livestock Environmental Management Systems Project, the Wisconsin Dairy EMS pilot project has focused on ways that the EMS process can support producers in improving internal communications. Communicating about goals and staying on top of change is facilitated by the Environmental Management System process, which supports users in developing an "internal communications strategy." Everyone involved in an operation needs to understand the larger environmental and economic goals of the farm, and how their specific jobs support reaching those goals. Family, employees, and consultants can all be included in the development of an internal communications strategy, although generally the farm owners or managers will be the leaders in initiating and developing the strategy. Standard tools used in communications strategies involve: staff meetings; training sessions; bulletin boards; scheduled one-on-one meetings; phone or radio communications; and employee orientations.
An effective communication strategy requires resources and time, but can clarify each person's responsibilities for environmental stewardship. As the EMS process becomes established, communications should enable everyone to consider: "What can we do better next time?"
One WI dairy produces all documents in a bilingual Spanish-English format and makes sure reference and instruction information is available when it is needed. Everything from the employee manual and operating instructions to posted notices are accessible and understandable to all staff. Another dairy farm provides employees access to a computer terminal, not only as a nice "perk" for employee use, but as a practical way to keep everyone informed of important information, such as environmental objectives and performance benchmarks.
Each operation will develop its own ways of systematically making sure you are informing yourself and others about what is going on, and where you want to be going. Benefits can include ensuring everyone has a common vision for the farm; providing feedback to determine when goals are or are not met; improving communications when mistakes happen or problems arise; insuring everyone has input and to encourage suggestions; creating a sense of ownership in everyone involved with the farm.
Additional resources on creating effective on-farm communications:
"Xenobiotics" and Water Quality
According to the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, a xenobiotic (Greek for "foreign" and "life") is a compound that is foreign to a living organism. Principal xenobiotics found in increasing amounts in our water supply include: pesticides, pharmaceuticals, veterinary and human antibiotics, industrial and household compounds, hormones and sterols. Steve Diver of the Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service (http://attra.ncat.org/) compiled the following list of information sources about water quality and xenobiotics.
First Watersheds Selected for Conservation Security Program. On May 18, 2004, Secretary Veneman announced the first watersheds selected for implementation of the Conservation Security Program (CSP). NRCS administers this voluntary conservation program that provides payments for producers who have historically practiced good stewardship on their agricultural lands and offers incentives for those who want to do more. As Bruce Knight, Chief of USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service noted in an opening speech to the National Forum on Agricultural Environmental Management Systems held in Arlington, VA this past March, a well-prepared EMS can aid farmers in preparing for successful applications to the Conservation Security Program as well as NRCS cost-share programs.
Read the USDA news release, http://www.usda.gov/Newsroom/0200.04.html. Selected watersheds for the fiscal year 2004 CSP sign-up are:
| State | Watershed |
|---|---|
| Pennsylvania | Raystown |
| South Carolina | Saluda |
| Georgia | Little |
| Michigan / Indiana / Ohio | St. Joseph |
| Indiana / Ohio | Auglaize |
| Minnesota / Iowa | Blue Earth |
| Wisconsin | Lower Chippewa |
| Illinois / Wisconsin | Kishwaukee |
| Missouri / Arkansas | Little River Ditches |
| Montana / North Dakota | Lower Yellowstone |
| Iowa | East Nishnabotna |
| Nebraska / Kansas | Lower Little Blue |
| Oklahoma / Kansas | Lower Salt Fork Arkansas |
| New Mexico / Texas | Punta De Agua |
| Texas | Hondo |
| Washington | Moses Coulee |
| Idaho | Lemhi |
| Oregon | Umatilla |
Collaboration: A Guide for Environmental Advocates." The Community Based Collaboratives Research Consortium produced this guide based on over 20 years of experience as environmental planners, facilitators and process designers and the input of project partners, The Wilderness Society and the National Audubon Society. The guide is being used by government agencies across the country to help them design effective collaborations. The U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution uses this guide in their training courses. Check out the group's website which has free databases you can access for projects as well as literature. The guide is available for $8 bound via purchase order or check or it can be accessed directly at http://www.virginia.edu/ien/publications.htm. The CBCRC's website, http://www.cbcrc.org offers other resources such as: "Building Trust Within Community-Based Collaboratives: Watershed Partnerships In California And Washington," by William D. Leach and Paul A. Sabatier http://www.cbcrc.org/2003speakerpapers/Leach.pdf and, A Stream Corridor Protection Strategy for Local Governments (UVA, 2002),and Community Watershed Forums: A Planner's Guide (UVA, 2002), both at http://www.virginia.edu/ien/publications.htm.
The Science of Sustainable Agriculture: Measuring the Immeasurable.The purpose of this 2-quarter lecture series was to explore the concept of sustainability as it relates to agriculture, the environment, communities, and society at large. A group of leading social, ecological, and biological scientists addressed key issues and topics relevant to agricultural sustainability in California. Presentations included, Agricultural Production and Climate Change, Economic Policies to Encourage Sustainable Agriculture, and Civic Agriculture and Food Citizenship. Schedule of speakers and video archive available at: http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/seminar/
"Building a Sustainable Business: A Guide to Developing a Business Plan for Farms and Rural Businesses." The Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN), the national outreach arm of the USDA-Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program, recently released this guide on helping alternative and sustainable agriculture entrepreneurs. It is published in collaboration with the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture. To preview, this publication is available online in a 277 page pdf file. See http://www.sare.org/publications. Print copy order information is also provided. Each wire-bound copy is $14 plus $3.95 s/h. Credit card and discounted volume orders may be placed by calling 802/656-0484.
Science.gov 2.0 Launched. A new interagency science portal delivers significant advance in government information retrieval. Science.gov (http://www.science.gov/), the public's "go to" Web portal for the vast stores of Federal science information, has made searching for information easier for the user. Science.gov 2.0 will search its 47 million pages of government R&D results and present the results to patrons in relevancy-ranked order.
"Water - More Nutrition Per Drop." This report, released at the 12th meeting of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD 12), warns that if more is not done to use less water while concurrently producing more food, the international community will face great difficulties in meeting the UN Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of undernourished people in the world by 2015. The Report, entitled "Water - More Nutrition Per Drop" (download at http://www.siwi.org) was initiated by the Swedish Government and was produced through a unique collaboration composed of leading international water experts from the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). A revised version of Estimated Use of Water in the United States in 2000 is available on the USGS site at http://water.usgs.gov/pubs/circ/2004/circ1268/.
Newly Revised CSREES New England website.Changes throughout the website includes expanded descriptions of ongoing research that serves as the base of education and Extension efforts, and more links to various online resources (i.e., fact sheets and publications) generated by the New England community. http://www.usawaterquality.org/NewEngland/.
New National Survey on the Environment.A Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies survey of 1,000 adults nationwide shows Americans are seriously concerned about the country's environmental health and want more political action on the environment, particularly at the national and international levels. http://www.ems.org/rls/2004/05/26/yale_university_.html#top_release
New EPA Pubs:"Guidelines Establishing Test Procedures for the Analysis of Pollutants Under the Clean Water Act; National Primary Drinking Water Regulations; and National Secondary Drinking Water Regulations; Analysis, Sampling, and Monitoring Procedures," http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/methods/update2003/Update2003_FS.pdf
"Meat Poultry Products Industry Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards," http://www.epa.gov/guide/mpp/final-fs.pdf
"Drinking Water and Ground Water Statistics for 2003", http://www.epa.gov/safewater/data/pdfs/factoids_2003.pdf
Tribal Pollution Prevention Workgroup meets at the National Environmental Assistance Summit. On April 21, the Tribal Pollution Prevention (P2) Workgroup of the National Pollution Prevention Roundtable held its first face-to-face meeting during the National Environmental Assistance Summit in Baltimore. The Tribal P2 Workgroup consists of tribal, state, federal and other P2 assistance providers, and is co-chaired by staff from Region 5, Fond du Lac Band of Chippewa, and the Western Regional Pollution Prevention Network. The group agreed to work with Montana State University on expanding their tribal P2 website into a national site that provides a one-stop shop for P2 information that would be of interest to tribes. Ideas were also explored about promoting EMS approaches to encourage tribal P2.
World Bank Water Lecture Series: Social Marketing for Social Change (video). This presentation includes a useful overview of social marketing by Alan Andreasen of Georgetown University. http://info.worldbank.org/etools/bspan/PresentationView.asp?PID=1073&EID=563.
EVENTS
First National Conference on Ecosystem Restoration (NCER) will be held December 6-10, 2004 in sunny Orlando, Florida at the Wyndham Palace. The purpose of NCER is to provide a forum for physical, biological and social scientists, engineers, resource managers and decision-makers to share their knowledge and research results concerning ecosystem restoration throughout the United States. One-page abstracts are due no later than July 1, 2004 and must be submitted electronically. Detailed instructions are provided on the conference website, http://conference.ifas.ufl.edu/ecosystem.
Agriculture as Producer and Consumer of Energy Conference sponsored by Farm Foundation and USDA's Office of Energy Policy and New Uses. June 24 - 25, 2004 Hyatt Regency Crystal City Arlington, Virginia. http://www.farmfoundation.org/projects/03-35AgAsEnergyProducerAndConsumer.htm
The 12th National Nonpoint Source Monitoring Workshop Workshop will be held in Ocean City, MD at the Princess Royale Oceanfront Hotel and Conference Center. The focus of this workshop is watershed programs such as 319 and others. The agenda looks great. Hope you can attend! Please pass this information along. Draft agenda, registration, and other information is available at: http://www.ctic.purdue.edu/NPSWorkshop/NPSworkshop.html
TMDL 2005. Hyatt Regency Philadelphia Philadelphia, PA 26-29 June 2005. Abstract Submittal Deadline: 26 July 2004. The Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) requirements of the Clean Water Act play a pivotal role in how and if the United States meets its clean water goals. The Water Environment Federation's (WEF) TMDL Conferences have brought together hundreds of environmental experts to exchange information on challenging issues related to the TMDL process over the last three years. TMDL technical practice and regulations, however, are far from static. Abstracts can be sent via mail, e-mail, fax, or on-line at http://www.wef.org/conferences.
Sources for this newsletter include: "Alternative Agriculture News" from the Henry A. Wallace Center for Agricultural & Environmental Policy at Winrock International; "Agriculture And Natural Resources News" from the USDA Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service; "The Recharge Report" from the Groundwater Foundation; and "Wildlines Report" from the State Environmental Resource Center. Thank you!
