11/18/24 - 107 New Stories - REAL Environmental & Conservation Leadership In PA: http://tinyurl.com/3zb7jppr
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Spotlight- Stimulus Money Grows Jobs, Improves Environment One Farm At A Time
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In July the Chesapeake Bay Foundation received $14.9 million in federal stimulus funding from the PA Infrastructure Investment Authority to install farm conservation practices that will reduce nutrient pollution going into Pennsylvania's rivers and streams. This is one of the project made possible by that funding.
Leroy and Brenda Walker's dairy farm in Thomasville, Pennsylvania, is just one of many small farms that is benefiting from federal stimulus funding.
New manure storage facilities, barnyard cleanup, stormwater controls, and a buffer project will improve the economic health of the family business while reducing pollution and improving local water quality.
"This stimulus funding is providing a much needed boost to small family farms, especially dairy operations that are suffering from depressed milk prices and a sagging economy," said Peter Hughes, president of Red Barn Consulting, Inc., which is working with the Walkers and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation on the project. "Investing in these technologies on small farms not only helps the economy, it also will help keep children and future generations working on farms."
The Walker's project is one of 45 projects being funded through a $14.2 million grant from the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority to CBF to invest federal stimulus money in agricultural best management practices on family farms in Pennsylvania's portion of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
"These projects range from bricks and mortar to buffers and will help PennVEST achieve its goal of improving water quality as well as giving an important boost to local economies," said Brion Johnson, PENNVEST's Deputy Executive Director. "From the Maryland border to New York, CBF had the organization in place to help put this stimulus money to work."
To put the funding on the ground, CBF partnered with five County Conservation Districts and two agricultural consulting firms.
"Along with providing local jobs, this funding will ensure that farms meet or exceed basic criteria designed to prevent pollution from reaching local waterways," said CBF Pennsylvania Executive Director Matt Ehrhart.
In order to participate, the projects had to be shovel-ready, and the farms had to agree to install forested buffers along waterways to reduce pollution. CBF estimates that the projects will reduce more than 838,000 pounds of nitrogen pollution, 286,000 pounds of phosphorus pollution, and 678 tons of sediment pollution.
"We at CBF are extremely proud that these partnerships are reducing pollution and helping improve family farms," said CBF Project Manager David Wise. "It's a win for family farms, a win for local businesses and contractors, and a win for water quality."
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3/1/2010 |
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