The federal Department of Agriculture this week announced the Pennsylvania Environmental Council will receive a $939,734 federal grant to design and implement a “reverse auction,” which allows the lowest bidder to receive funding for one or more best management practices (BMPs) that reduce nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment runoff on farms.

The goal of the project is to use incentives to assist farmers, communities and industry to meet and exceed state and federal water quality goals. Trading has long been a staple of state and federal air quality programs. The Conestoga Nutrient Trading Program, created four years ago, is among the first to apply this strategy to water quality.

The practice will also stretch limited conservation dollars by allowing the market to set a price, as opposed to grant administrators setting a fixed price for BMPs in a watershed.

The Department of Environmental Protection is involved in a pilot project with PEC, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, World Resources Institute, The Conservation Fund and Natsource LLC to customize a nutrient trading website and platform that will enable farmers to post offers for cost-effective BMPs to reduce nutrient loading to the Conestoga Watershed in Lancaster County.

Market-based programs such as trading provide incentives for entities to create credits by going beyond statutory, regulatory or voluntary obligations and goals. These programs provide a structure where environmental improvement credits can be traded to others to help them more cost effectively meet their obligations or goals.

NewsClip: DEP Congratulations PEC on Grant Award

9/17/2004