Dispatches from the Hill — agency of agriculture RSS

We submitted the following letter to the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets on the last day that they were accepting public comment on the Required Agricultural Practices—or RAPs. Now that the rule has been formally submitted by the Agency, we thought we'd publish our final comments. See the bottom of this post for an explanation of the featured "before" image (above), and the "after" image (at the bottom). Hello. First I’d like to thank you for taking on the monumental task of addressing the water quality and environmental degradation issues facing Vermont. As a farmer, this issue is of paramount importance to me, my business, and the future of our state. If we stand idly by and allow the...

I applaud Vermont's Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets—herein referred to as "The Agency"—for trying to move the state's water quality in the right direction. When our wonderful Senator Campion stood in my barnyard one morning a year or so ago and asked me my thoughts on a hypothetical program, I was all for it. I scanned our own farm real quick and saw a few places where wet manure piles could get cleaned up and should get cleaned up. As regular readers will know, we take pride in our effort to make our farm a part of the environmental solution—not a part of the problem. So, we're happy to learn when we're wrong and happy to learn how to...