By Sjoerd Willem Duiker
Pennsylvania farmers are implementing many Best Management Practices that help protect water quality in the Chesapeake Bay without any government support. Those efforts are often going unnoticed and therefore the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is not getting credit for them. This can have far-reaching implications as Pennsylvania has agreed to meet water quality goals in the Chesapeake Bay Agreement, signed in 2017. If Pennsylvania is not able to show that enough has been done, significant legal action might follow that could affect many farm operations in the state. In an effort to better document conservation practices farmers voluntarily implement on their farms, Penn State Extension is performing a survey of farmers in Lancaster, Franklin, Adams, and York Counties. Surveys were mailed to farmers in February with a request to return them speedily. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects, the deadline to respond has been extended to May 1. Farmers did not receive this notice in the mail due to disruptions in office operations at Penn State. However, the Penn State Survey Research Center is continuing its operations and is able to process returns and answer questions farmers may have. Once the survey is complete, responses will be analyzed by College of Agricultural Sciences researchers, and cumulative results will be provided to Pennsylvania's Chesapeake Bay Office to document the practices farmers have adopted to conserve soil and water and protect water quality. Responses will be completely confidential and never will be associated with a farmer's name or location.
Source : psu.edu