PA's Agriculture Industry Meeting Chesapeake Bay Clean up Obligations

State Conservation Commission Receives $10 Million in REAP Requests

STATE COLLEGE, Pa., Jan. 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pennsylvania's farmers
are meeting the mandatory nutrient reduction targets they are required to make
under the state's Chesapeake Bay Compliance Plan, said Environmental
Protection Deputy Secretary Cathleen Curran Myers today during the State
Conservation Commission's winter meeting.

"Pennsylvania's Chesapeake Bay Compliance Plan requires 25 million pounds of
nutrient reduction from our farmlands--nearly five times the reduction
required of our sewage treatment plants," said Myers. "Our farmers are rising
to that challenge, laying claim to more than half of all the nitrogen
reductions made by farmers anywhere in the multi-state watershed thus far."

According to Myers, agriculture, collectively, is the largest contributor of
nutrients to Pennsylvania's bay tributaries. The more than 40,000 Pennsylvania
farms located within the watershed discharge 46 percent of the nitrogen and 58
percent of the phosphorus into these waterways and, consequently, farmers
today face more stringent water quality requirements.

The state's laws are requiring best management practices on larger
Pennsylvania farms. Practices mandated for farms considered concentrated
animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, include a thorough process to obtain a
permit and comply with regulations more stringent than the federal
requirements.

Stronger regulations have expanded the number of CAFOs from 165 to 350. CAFOs
are required to obtain permits that reduce nutrients and sediment flowing into
local waterways.

New manure requirements have added phosphorus to the nitrate regulations
included as part of nutrient management plans. The new regulations also
establish vegetative buffers or setbacks along the edge of streams, while
farms that import manure must now meet the same requirements as the farm that
produces the manure.

With these sweeping changes, more than 5,000 farms will have full nutrient
management plans, as well as stream setbacks or buffers, increasing the number
of highly regulated farms in Pennsylvania by 600 percent.

Larger farms with animals must now meet standards for constructing and using
manure storage structures, and must obtain a state permit when their
structures reach a minimum level of storage capacity. Additionally, every farm
in the state is required to develop and implement erosion and sedimentation
plans that meet established minimum standards for control of soil and nutrient
runoff.

"Farmers are stepping up and taking advantage of the cost effective options
available to meet their Chesapeake Bay obligations," said Myers. "In the past
few years, Pennsylvania's farmers made our Conservation Reserve Enhancement
Program the largest in the country. Now they are exhibiting their willingness
to invest in conservation measures and clean water as evidenced by the $10
million in REAP requests received to date."

Myers pointed to the number of applications received for the new Resource
Enhancement and Protection, or REAP, Program. The State Conservation
Commission began accepting applications on a first-come, first-served basis
Jan. 2.

This week, the requests from Pennsylvania's farmers were expected to have
exceeded the $10 million allocated to the program. With an average 50 percent
tax credit, this represents an additional $10 million from farmer's pockets to
make these watershed investments.

More than 230 applications have been received by the State Conservation
Commission.

Act 55 of 2007 established REAP and gave farmers and businesses the
opportunity to earn tax credits in exchange for best management practices on
agricultural operations that enhance farm production, protect natural
resources and ultimately benefit the bay.

The program is administered by the State Conservation Commission and the tax
credits are granted by the Department of Revenue. Eligible applicants may
receive between 25 percent and 75 percent of project costs as state tax
credits for up to $150,000 per agricultural operation.

For more information on Pennsylvania's Chesapeake Bay efforts, visit
http://www.depweb.state.pa.us, keyword: Chesapeake Bay. To learn more about
REAP, visit http://www.agriculture.state.pa.us, and enter "REAP" in the search
field.

CONTACT: Kerry Chippo
(717) 787-1323

SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection

Kerry Chippo of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection,
+1-717-787-1323