Extension agent Norm Conrad leads programs that help farmers address the legal and practical challenges raised by nutrient management.

To help protect water quality, Pennsylvania passed the first state law that requires certain farmers to develop and implement nutrient management plans. These plans guide the application of manure based on crop needs for nitrogen, guarding against nitrogen excesses. When nitrogen leaches from manure and fertilizer into groundwater, it can contaminate wells. Young infants who drink contaminated water can develop methemoglobinemia, or "blue baby disease," a condition in which their blood doesn't carry oxygen properly. Young animals also can be affected.

Agronomist Les Lanyon's research on nutrient flows on farms showed that legislation could achieve the best environmental benefits by targeting operations that produce more manure than crops can use, so Pennsylvania's Nutrient Management Act focuses on concentrated animal operations, or CAOs. These farms with more than 2,000 pounds of animal per acre of cropland make up an estimated 5 to 10 percent of Pennsylvania's farms.

"Any farm with a high density of animals and not enough cropland on which to spread their manure is subject to regulation," says extension agent Norm Conrad. "The remaining farms have been encouraged to prepare and follow plans voluntarily. These plans are very precise. Farmers need to manage how much nitrogen they're applying through manure and fertilizer on a field-by-field, crop-by-crop basis.

"Farms not required to comply with the act have a strong economic incentive to have a plan, because they can usually save on fertilizer costs. But very concentrated operations, with 6,000 to 8,000 pounds of animals per acre, will be fortunate if they can recover their costs or even come close to breaking even. Some folks will be doing innovative and interesting things."

Nutrient management plans must be prepared by a certified nutrient management planner, then approved by the local conservation district. Plans for existing farms were due on October 1, 1998. Farmers can become certified planners themselves, or hire a private consultant to write the plan. "There's no one standard form, however, the regulations stipulate what information is the bare minimum required in a plan," Conrad says. "But farmers will probably want more than the law requires to make plans usable, such as a spreading sheet that tells them how many loads of manure go to each field."

Penn State Cooperative Extension agents train private consultants, agency personnel, and farmers to become certified nutrient management planners. They also educate farmers, conservation district representatives, and decision makers on nutrient management and water quality by holding workshops and developing publications, fact sheets, and other management tools.

"Farmers not ready with plans can notify their conservation district of their intent to do so, but if a manure spill happens, or someone complains that their well is contaminated, they are subject to fines and enforcement actions," says Conrad. "Farmers could be fined $500 for the first day, then $100 for every day until they come into compliance."

Agronomist Doug Beegle, who served as an adviser to the Nutrient Management Board, the 15-member panel that wrote the regulations, says that if you have to have a regulation, this is a decent one. "The board had to devise regulations that would accomplish the goal but still be practical and reasonable for farmers. The group included scientists, farmers, industry people, and an environmentalist. There were some tough battles, but everybody had the same goal in mind -- to write a regulation that would be easy to implement. Now the challenge is to get farmers to adopt it."

"We figure there are 1,600 potential CAOs out there," says Karl Brown, executive secretary for the State Conservation Commission. "By the October 1 deadline, we were able to get close to 750 farmers to turn in a plan, or commit to writing a plan in a timely fashion. This was encouraging, but we need to continue to work to get that other 50 percent through the door."

According to Doug Goodlander, director of nutrient management for the commission, the government provides a 75 percent cost-share up to $800 per farmer to hire a nutrient management planner. Also, the commission's AgriLink program provides low-interest loans to farmers to help them implement nutrient management practices.

"We're going down a new road," Conrad says. "The way we manage nutrients is evolving. The plans we have today are by no means what will be there in five years. We don't know yet if these plans will be environmentally better than saying, for instance, 'all farms in the state are allowed 20 tons of dairy manure, or 4 tons of poultry manure, per acre.' This is a work in progress. Our goal is to balance agricultural production with environmental concerns. Farms have to stay profitable, but we also have to be stewards of our land and water."