Opinion - Green Farming Boosts Pennsylvania Economy

By Lamonte Garber, Chesapeake Bay Foundation

Everyone is worried about the economy, and the debate continues about the best options for stimulus and job creation. President Obama, Congress, and governors everywhere are scrambling to find solutions that will generate bipartisan support. Not surprisingly, infrastructure projects like roads, bridges, and water plants are playing a central role in economic stimulus plans.

 

But other worthy investments could provide an immediate boost to communities across Pennsylvania, and they deserve the attention of lawmakers now. Farm conservation projects strengthen our rural economies while providing big environmental payoffs. State and federal officials should make stimulus funding available for streamside tree planting projects, sustainable grazing systems, manure to energy systems, no-till agriculture, and many other green improvements on Pennsylvania farms. These projects grow our economy in a sustainable, equitable, and very timely fashion, and they deserve a central role in the overall stimulus package.

 

These projects don't just mean healthier soils, cleaner streams, and more productive farms, they mean local jobs. Unlike some large infrastructure projects that may use out-of-state or even foreign contractors, these projects typically use local contractors and engineers, local equipment dealers, building suppliers, and local nurseries.

 

Farmers tend to spend their money close to home. How do we know this? In 2002, Penn State Extension surveyed farmers in southeastern Pennsylvania and found that they purchase a majority of their supplies and services from within the farm's county or adjacent counties. This means better impact from government spending, because dollars re-circulate within the local communities.

 

Another benefit of green infrastructure spending on farms is that it puts stimulus dollars in often-overlooked counties. Agriculture is disbursed widely across the Commonwealth, and serves as the anchor for many rural communities that were hurting before the recession. Pennsylvania's new REAP Program, for example, supported new projects with state tax credits in 57 counties in every region of the state. And REAP's modest funding of $10 million per year goes even farther because most projects must be matched dollar for dollar by participating farmers.

 

It gets better. Many of these projects can happen quickly, fulfilling the most important criterion for effective stimulus spending: they're truly "shovel-ready." Projects that don't begin for another year, or longer, aren't going to provide the boost we need now.

 

Because many farm conservation projects don't need exhaustive environmental reviews and multiple permits, work can begin in short order. Stream buffer projects, so key to the state's water quality strategy, simply need tree seedlings for spring planting, and nurseries are ready. Fencing contractors can quickly install fencing systems that keep cows healthier and streams cleaner. Agricultural construction firms can attend to hundreds of dairy and beef barnyards that need renovations to reduce runoff to streams.

 

Finally, spending on agricultural green infrastructure goes beyond job creation by helping Pennsylvania meet commitments for clean water. Last week the Chesapeake Bay Foundation sent letters to the governors of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, asking them to use the expected increase to the federal Clean Water State Revolving Fund to finance green infrastructure that reduces nitrogen and phosphorus runoff from farms, as well as discharges from sewage treatment plants and stormwater facilities. This would get Pennsylvania that much closer the governors' 2007 commitment to accelerate the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay and the tributaries that feed it.

 

Pennsylvania's roads and bridges certainly need attention and will likely receive the lion's share of infrastructure spending. But green infrastructure and farm conservation offer so many benefits, including much needed jobs, that we can't afford to leave these projects out of the economic stimulus plan for Pennsylvania.

Lamonte Garber is the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's Pennsylvania Agriculture Program Manager

Editor's Note: The final federal economic stimulus bill contains a specific set aside to fund "green infrastructure" that U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidance says includes installation of practices which restore natural hydrology, restore forests, floodplains and wetlands, reduce impervious surfaces, install green roofs, sequester carbon and promote recreational and natural resource benefits in communities. (See separate story)