Farm Bureaus join forces to address water quality

Issue Date: March 3, 2010

By Kate Campbell
Assistant Editor

Concern has switched to action for farmers and ranchers on California's Central Coast. Faced with what they see as an inflexible and flawed proposal from the regional water board related to renewing the area's irrigated lands waste discharge management program, the agricultural community now is preparing alternative measures for the board to consider.

Seven county Farm Bureaus have joined forces to develop and present more workable measures. The joint Farm Bureau effort is aimed at highlighting methods that will help improve water quality in watersheds throughout the region while also supporting food and floral production in one of the state's most productive agricultural regions.

California Farm Bureau Federation water policy and legal experts are supporting the effort to develop new, farm-led water quality improvement alternatives to present to the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board.

"We advised the regional water board that the current staff proposal is unworkable and that the agricultural community would develop their own proposal by April," said Kevin Merrill, Santa Barbara County Farm Bureau president.

"The Central Coast agricultural community had to push for the opportunity to present workable alternatives. The county Farm Bureaus took the initiative to challenge the regional board's proposal and present the board with measures that have been proven to work for both the environment and agriculture," said Kari Fisher, associate counsel in the CFBF Natural Resources and Environmental Division.

Calling the current staff proposal "draconian," Merrill agreed that the process used to develop it didn't provide opportunity for meaningful discussions to ensure the best long-term water quality solutions on the Central Coast.

The current draft proposal from the regional water board staff goes beyond the previous five-year "farm plan," to require management plans for irrigation, pesticides, nutrients, salinity, sediment, erosion and aquatic habitat protection. If adopted, it also would require, within two years, that all dischargers within 1,000 feet of an impaired water body or its tributaries eliminate all irrigation runoff from farming operations.

Another mandate in the draft plan would be planting vegetation where none exists in a width of 50 to 100 feet from streams or rivers. Farmers say that would translate into thousands of food production acres being lost.

The draft calls for eliminating runoff of all nutrients and salts within four years, and within five years eliminating nitrate and salt discharges to groundwater. All ponds and reservoirs would need to be constructed to avoid leaching to groundwater.

The proposal also includes new provisions aimed specifically at commercial nurseries and greenhouse operations, including zero runoff from potted plants.

In addition to Santa Barbara, counties within the Central Coast Region include Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Monterey, San Benito and San Luis Obispo. Farmers and ranchers in those counties will submit alternative methods to achieve water quality goals to the regional board in April.

Farm Bureau leaders say their proposals will achieve water quality goals while allowing more flexibility for farmers and ranchers. Fisher said CFBF is helping prepare the alternatives, as well as compiling detailed comments on the proposed, but unworkable, staff version.

CFBF Director of Water Resources Danny Merkley expressed frustration with the Central Coast plan, saying it mirrors a pattern that board staff followed in the Central Valley. Merkley said that process failed, and he stressed that creation of the Central Valley region's collaborative Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program is working. He suggested a similar approach on the Central Coast would likewise yield water quality improvements while sustaining agricultural production.

"Excluding stakeholders didn't work in the Central Valley then and it won't work on the Central Coast now," Merkley said. "We are committed to an inclusive approach that brings regulators and farm operators together in a way that truly benefits the environment."

Merrill encouraged Central Coast farmers to review the regional board's proposal and make comments and recommendations by the April 1 deadline. He said interested people may contact their county Farm Bureau offices for more information on the alternatives and further Farm Bureau-led developments.

For further information about the regional water board staff proposal, see www.waterboards.ca.gov.

(Kate Campbell is an assistant editor of Ag Alert. She may be contacted at kcampbell@cfbf.com.)

Permission for use is granted, however, credit must be made to the California Farm Bureau Federation when reprinting this item. Top