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CAFO Rule Implementation: How can USDA Help


Remarks by Mack Gray, Deputy Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. at the International Poultry Expo

Atlanta, Georgia
January 29, 2004

Introduction
American consumers expect a great deal of our food and agriculture system. And there is no doubt that it consistently delivers—more nutritious food with wider variety; improved food safety with fewer adverse environmental impacts; and greater convenience than at any time in our Nation’s history.
At the same time, the array of potential environmental issues associated with agriculture continues to grow. The largely water quality related concerns of the 80s and 90s are now joined by growing concerns about: greenhouse gas emissions (e.g., methane, nitrous oxides, carbon dioxide); air quality (odors), and potential for production practices to contribute to antibiotic resistance of pathogens, deliver pharmaceutically active compounds into the environment, or allow for rapid movement of animal diseases, among other concerns.
The situation will continue to intensify as development patterns bring agriculture and non-agricultural communities in closer contact. Environmental quality increasingly means a great deal to Americans, from maintaining water quality in rivers, streams, and lakes to improving air quality and minimizing greenhouse gas emissions. All challenges with meaning for agriculture. A fundamental question is how can we keep American agriculture in business on our soil in the future and at the same time have clean and plentiful natural resources for today, tomorrow, and generations to come?

Bringing Agricultural Perspectives to Environmental Regulation
In the last few decades, Federal and State environmental regulations and even local ordinances, have increasingly influenced agriculture. As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has revised its rule under the Clean Water Act that governs concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), and is considering revisions to its total maximum daily load rule for the Nation’s impaired waterways, some in agriculture are apprehensive. This is especially so when the Clean Air and Endangered Species Acts, among other environmental regulations, are factored into the mix.
USDA believes that environmental regulation should be workable and recognize the important role that agriculture plays in food production and natural resource conservation. As Secretary of Agriculture, Ann M. Veneman said during the rollout of EPA’s revised CAFO rule on December 16, 2002, “…we have worked closely…to get common sense regulations that we can make work on the farms.” Indeed, the Department of Agriculture undertook unprecedented steps to bring agricultural perspectives to bear in the process, AND to ensure that agriculture does its part to protect environmental quality.
USDA is actively engaged with EPA on a number of issues with significance for agriculture. A USDA-EPA interagency workgroup worked to strengthen the agricultural perspective in the revised CAFO rule. A similar workgroup has existed on the total maximum daily load (TMDL) or watershed rule. Similar efforts are underway with voluntary water quality trading as both EPA and USDA seek to foster market-based environmental credit trading opportunities.
Research Advances and Directions
Changing conditions and emerging problems have created pressing needs for new and improved knowledge in areas of environmental quality, food safety, and pest and disease management, among others. USDA is engaged in research, in the lab and on the farm, to develop and transfer technologies to assist the Nation’s farmers and ranchers become even better natural resource stewards.
For example, USDA directs millions of dollars to research in animal waste management each year. The Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Manure and Byproduct Utilization National Program, uses a systems research approach to develop solutions to current and emerging problems such as nutrient enrichment of soils and water; atmospheric emission of odors, ammonia, and greenhouse gases; and transport of pathogens and pharmaceutically active compounds that may contaminate food and water supplies. The Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) provides research funding through a number of programs and initiatives to state colleges and universities. These funds contribute to research addressing issues of air quality, water quality, animal nutrition, animal mortality disposal, and value-added products among others.
Research not only makes high-tech advances possible, but practical and workable:
• advances like the new variety of corn with phosphorus in a more digestible form that, when fed to pigs and chickens, reduces phosphorus excretion by almost 50 percent. This is good for farmers, too, because they get to spend less on dietary supplements because the phosphorus in this corn is more readily absorbed by the animals
• advances in waste treatment technology that effectively removes ammonia that would otherwise volatilize into the atmosphere.
• advances that will help protect environmental and public health through a new method for detecting E.coli H7:0157 in surface waters.
• advances in risk assessment tools such as the phosphorus index and phosphorus threshold.

Research, however, is only part of the story. Placing these new tools, technologies, and management systems in the hands of farmers and ranchers, and on the landscape, requires technical and financial assistance.

Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (2002 Farm Bill)
Congress passed new farm policy—The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002—in May 2002. According to Secretary Veneman, the 2002 Farm Bill “…represents the single most significant commitment of resources toward conservation on private lands in our nation’s history.”
The reauthorized Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) highlights program purposes of:
• “assisting producers in complying with local, State, and national regulatory requirements concerning— (A) soil, water, and air quality; (B) wildlife habitat; and (C) surface and ground water conservation;”

• ‘‘avoiding, to the maximum extent practicable, the need for resource and regulatory programs by assisting producers in protecting soil, water, air, and related natural resources and meeting environmental quality criteria established by Federal, State, tribal, and local agencies.”

• “consolidating and streamlining conservation planning and regulatory compliance processes to reduce administrative burdens on producers and the cost of achieving environmental goals.”

Congress further revised the EQIP language to promote the adoption of comprehensive nutrient management plans (CNMPs) by livestock and poultry producers. In fact, the language is clear that producers obtaining cost-share for waste management facilities must develop and implement CNMPs! Since, 2001, the CNMP has been a cornerstone of the Department’s effort to assist livestock and poultry producers improve the environmental performance of their operations while maintaining their economic viability. In EPA’s revised CAFO rule, the preamble language makes clear that the agency sees the CNMP as a way for producers to meet permit requirements. This is just another example of where agriculture and environmental policies are working together to assist producers and protect natural resource quality.
Importantly, Congress recognized the magnitude of the conservation and regulatory workload and makes clear the intent to engage non-Federal entities to assist in the delivery of technical services. Agricultural producers now have the option of obtaining technical services from an approved third party. The Technical Service Provider interim final rule describes a performance-based system where producers can take full advantage of the marketplace and obtain cost-effective delivery of quality technical services.

Conclusion
USDA is using every tool available to us from research, to technical and financial assistance, to partnerships and educational initiatives in order to tackle the job of helping the Nation’s food and fiber producers voluntarily balance production with environmental quality.