‘Smart Farms’ Generate Nutrient Credits

American Farmland Trust Transfers Credits to Lancaster Group

Dick Wanner
Lancaster Farming Staff

LANCASTER, Pa. — Lancaster County has 1,000 preserved farms with a total of 80,000 acres protected from development — more preserved acreage than any other county in the U.S. The numbers are a tribute to the work of the non-profit Lancaster Farmland Trust and the Agricultural Preserve Board, a county government agency.

With the focus on keeping land in agriculture, there is growing concern about how the land is being farmed, Karen Martynick told a group attending the monthly Ag Issues Forum on Dec. 10 at the Lancaster Farm and Home Center.

Martynick is executive director of the Lancaster Farmland Trust (LFT), and the Ag Issues Forum is sponsored by the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

“About four years ago,” Martynick said, “our board began to discuss our responsibilities as stewards of the land. We recognized that some of our preserved farms weren’t using best management practices, that the farmers weren’t being as good stewards as they could be.

“For years, we had been referring farmers to the Conservation District, but many of them needed resources beyond that.”

The LFT board struggled with the issue, Martynick said. Should a farmer have a conservation plan in place before his or her land was preserved? There was lively debate at board meetings. The outcome of those discussions was not an all-or-nothing approach, but rather a “Smart Farms” program that helps farmers learn about and implement best management practices (BMPs) on their land.

Since its inception in 2006, Smart Farms has introduced 88 farmers to the benefits of BMPs, consulted with 48 of those on implementation, and was instrumental in the conversion of 1,500 acres to no-till practices.

The Smart Farms program was started with a three-year grant from a local foundation, and was successful enough to earn grant money from another foundation to continue the work.

“The biggest obstacle to getting farmers to participate in BMPs is that they don’t have the money to do it,” Martynick said.

Grants help with that problem, but grant money can be a gusher one year, a trickle the next and a dry hole the year after that. In searching for a steadier flow of income, the LFT board and staff looked into developing a nutrient credit trading program, using the county’s preserved land as a source of credits. So, with the help of a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the LFT is exploring this avenue to help reduce its dependence on grants.

Jim Baird, the Mid-Atlantic states director for the American Farmland Trust, followed Martynick to the head of the room, addressed the issue of nutrient credit trading, and prepared to present more than $4,000 worth of nutrient credits to the LFT. Baird mentioned the long shared history of the AFT and the LFT, a relationship that goes back to the early 1980s. He said the county’s reputation for farmland preservation is nationwide. As more and more focus is being placed on the connections between agriculture and the environment, the AFT wants farmers to have the tools they need farm in an environmentally friendly way.

“Since 2006, we have been working with farmers in Pennsylvania with a program called BMP Challenge,” Baird told the group. “It works like an insurance policy for a farmer who wants to try a new practice, but is concerned about losing yield.

“Our Challenge program backs a farmer who’s willing to try something new. We make it risk free. If he tries something and if it doesn’t work out — if he has a yield loss — we will make him whole.”

For the 2009 growing season, three Amish farmers with preserved acreage generated more than $4,000 worth of nutrient credits through the implementation of BMPs. Those credits were certified by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, and then awarded to the AFT. The AFT, in turn, transferred the credits to the LFT. Baird was at the meeting to formally present the credits to Martynick and members of the LFT board.

Dick Wanner can be reached at rwanner.eph@lnpnews.com, or by phone at (717) 419-4703.