The Maryland Department of Agriculture said yesterday that it is sending notices to about 6,000 state farmers, warning them that they need to comply with a law designed to control farm nutrient runoff into the Chesapeake Bay or face fines.
Agriculture Secretary Hagner R. Mister said farmers will have until July 31 to submit a plan to the department, obtain a justification for delay or return a card explaining why they believe they are exempt from the law to avoid being fined.
Fewer than half the state's farms have met requirements of the Water Quality Improvement Act of 1998 and submitted plans to control nutrient runoff such as that suspected of causing outbreaks of Pfiesteria piscicida in the bay during 1997 that caused fish kills and human illnesses. The Pfiesteria scare resulted in the closure of portions of three Maryland waterways, triggered panic over the safety of Maryland seafood and disrupted the state's tourism industry.
The original deadline for having a nutrient management plan written was Dec. 31. But farmers were given a grace period, according to Assistant Agriculture Secretary Royden N. Powell III, to see if the General Assembly would make any changes to the 1998 law. None were made.
The department reports that 5,800 of the estimated 12,000 to 15,000 farmers in the state have so far met the requirements of the law.
Steve Weber, president of the Maryland Farm Bureau, blamed a number of factors for the delays in complying with the law. He said some small farmers don't know if the law applies to their operations. Other small farms, he said, are shutting down because the farmers feel it is too difficult to comply with the complicated regulations.
But Weber said he is no longer hearing farmers say they will pay the fines or go to jail rather than comply with the unpopular law.
Louise Lawrence, chief of the Agriculture Department's Office of Resources Conservation, said farmers who have submitted nutrient management plans represent about 70 percent of the state's farmland.
She said the department has been concentrating its efforts on larger farms, but is now shifting that focus to the many small farms in the state.
The water quality laws apply to all agricultural operations grossing $2,500 or more annually, or raising 8,000 pounds or more of live animal weight.
She said farmers who do not meet the new July 31 deadline face a $250 fine.
All farmers are required to implement their plans to control runoff by Jan. 1, 2003. After that, violators can be fined up to $2,000 a year.
If farmers continue to ignore the law, their cases will eventually be turned over to the state Department of Energy, and the fines can go as high as $10,000 a day.
Theresa Pierno, Maryland executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, said there "is a need to move forward with nutrient management plans. We know the impact of nutrients on the bay and we can't back away from our obligations to protect it."
She noted that the past legislative session approved $1 million to help farmers pay for writing nutrient management plans.