Staff writer Ike Wilson covers an interesting topic in today’s paper.
While the combination of the agricultural easement and environmental movements have done much to preserve open space and work to keep our waterways clean, at the same time the ever tightening grip of stormwater regulations among many other things (can’t forget the economy) has put tremendous pressures on the farming industry to develop and impliment best practices to conform in an economical manner.
We should not forget that farming is at its core a business, and times have been very difficult of late as covered in a May 28, 2010 article in the Frederick Gazette. Local farmer Chuck Fry and his family have been recognized for their leadership and outstanding practices in agriculture, but as more and more layers of regulations pile on, it has made it harder to comply and still earn a living.
MacRo, Ltd. has many years of experience in providing real estate services to the agricultural community and appreciates the position that Mr. Fry and members of the Maryland Farm Bureau are taking on this issue.
Here are excerpts of :
“Chuck Fry and others who have spent most of their lives on farms are finding it more difficult to maintain their vocations. Fry, a Point of Rocks turkey farmer, said farmers are increasingly at the brunt of criticism for polluting the Chesapeake Bay without crediting them for their good management efforts. They are fighting back. More than 200 farmers and others concerned about the rhetoric surrounding the Chesapeake Bay clean-up initiatives sent an 18-page petition to Gov. Martin O”Malley.
“”Maryland farmers are fed up and frustrated at the misinformation intentionally promulgated by certain environmental advocates to make agriculture the scapegoat for all that”s wrong with the bay,” Maryland Farm Bureau President Patricia Langenfelder said.
“As O”Malley begins the process of drafting the Watershed Implementation Plan for Maryland, the farmers urged him to keep in mind that manure is organic fertilizer, farmers cannot grow food without fertilizer and economically viable farms are the best way to protect the bay and feed the citizens of the state.
“”We look forward to working with you to put together a plan for the Chesapeake Bay that asks each sector to do its part in a cooperative manner with mandatory state and federal resources identified to get the job done,” the farmers” letter concludes.” …