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Dairy producers get heads-up on new air, water regulations
TULARE, Calif. – Dairy producers are all hounded by the reality of doing business under the watchful eyes of regulators. Whether it is someone holding you accountable for air quality or water quality, it has become harder and harder to jump through all the regulatory hoops.
During Dairy Profit Seminars at World Ag Expo recently, Paul Martin, director of environmental services, Western United Dairymen, and Cynthia Cory, director of environmental affairs, California Farm Bureau Federation, gave producers an update on the things they need to watch for in the months to come.
Martin called for the audience to give dairy producers a “well deserved round of applause” for the job they have done so far in addressing water issues on their dairies. “Producers have dealt with three years of a new regulatory program that has been very detailed, very costly and very time consuming, and they have stepped up to the plate,” Martin declared.
Their compliance rate has been impressive and the water board has a new-found respect for dairymens’ performance, he said.
“We still have more to do,” Martin admitted. “The order calls for all dairies at the rate of 100 to 200 a year to install monitoring well systems to test the water that is first encountered under their property. It’s controversial and expensive and could be as much as 50% of the total compliance costs with the WDR.”
According to Martin, the water board recognizes the huge expense that meeting the regulations costs producers. Both scientists and dairy groups presented to the water board that they were concerned about the usefulness of this monitoring well approach. Although the program continues to move forward, the board authorized pursuing “alternative monitoring proposals.”
In the meantime, to date, 50 dairies have been ordered to install monitoring wells. Orders were given to these first 50 dairies because they had not done their nutrient management plans that were due at the end of last year.
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