Farmers Following Fertilizer Laws

By John L. Moore
The Morning News

SPRINGDALE -- Farmers in Arkansas have worked to control the nutrients they are spreading on their land despite lawsuits from Oklahoma accusing poultry companies of polluting the watershed, state officials said.

At a meeting of about 500 farmers Tuesday, Arkansas Attorney General Mike Beebe said the state will fight a lawsuit over chicken litter and water quality in the Illinois River, and Randy Young, director of the state Natural Resources Commission, touted the progress farmers have made in managing their farms.

The Natural Resources Commission was formerly known as the Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission.

Young said 1,043 farmers have completed training for applying fertilizer to their land and 5,810 nutrient management plans have already been written.

The state approved three laws regulating the use of nutrients on farms, fields and lawns in 2004.

Nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, are vital to plant growth, but runoff can carry them into streams, lakes and rivers. High nutrient levels in the water can bring rampant algae growth, which can degrade water quality and result in fish kills in extreme cases.

"Farmers and ranchers have made tremendous progress in implementing these plans," Young said.

Beebe echoed the frustration of many farmers who have a new set of state laws to follow to control chicken litter and commercial fertilizer, but could still face more pressure because of a lawsuit from Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson against eight poultry companies.

Edmondson argues the plans have not gone far enough in controlling phosphorus in the watershed.

Gene Pharr, a poultry farmer and chairman of the Washington County Conservation Commission, said most poultry farmers are doing well at complying with the law.

Voluntary nutrient management plans have been around since 1971 but were based on the amount of nitrogen in the litter. New laws restrict fertilizer based on phosphorus levels.

The plans are becoming legally binding documents, and some farmers are hesitant about adopting them because they're worried about the legal ramifications, Pharr said.

Pharr said he has had a nutrient management plan for 15 or 20 years. He said he switched to a phosphorus-based plan in 2002. Those plans were voluntary, however. Beginning in 2007, anyone applying chicken litter in Northwest Arkansas and in other parts of western Arkansas will have to have a nutrient management plan.

The laws in Arkansas are more inclusive than those in Oklahoma, said Washington County Judge Jerry Hunton on Tuesday, whose family began poultry farming in the Illinois River watershed more than 60 years ago.

"In Oklahoma, you can stack commercial fertilizer a foot high," Hunton said. Poultry litter, however, is heavily regulated, he said.

The laws in Arkansas control both commercial fertilizer and animal waste.

The new laws require anyone applying chicken litter to their fields to be registered with the state and to use either a nutrient management plan approved by the state or use protected rates of application based on soil samples, said Patrick Fisk, nutrient management program manager for the Natural Resources Commission.