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Farmers Face 2018 Buffer Deadline

The final buffer language adopted by the Legislature makes two key changes from previous law and rule.

The first establishes a deadline for installing buffers. The second is wording that may affect private ditches and require buffers where they weren’t required before.

Before Gov. Mark Dayton signed the agriculture funding bill in June, buffers were governed by shoreland rule and drainage law. The shoreline rule governed public waters. It went into effect in 1989 and was administered by counties through their zoning ordinances. It carried the same weight as a state statute. Enforcement varied by county.

Statute 103E governed buffers along county and judicial district ditches. The statute required a one rod buffer along the ditch whenever a redetermination was completed.

Now, one rod buffers must be in place on public drainage systems by Nov. 1, 2018, whether or not a redetermination has occurred. A 50-foot average width buffer, 30-foot minimum, must be in place on public waters by Nov. 1, 2017.

Language in the bill which reads: “for public drainage systems … a 16.5-foot minimum width continuous buffer of perennially rooted vegetation on ditches within the benefited area of public drainage systems,” has some concerned that buffers will be required on private ditches.

Map watch

Landowners will get their first peek at where buffers will be required next summer. The Department of Natural Resources received $650,000 from the Clean Water Fund to complete maps showing not only the public waters subject to the 50-foot buffer requirement, but also the public ditches that are subject to the one rod buffer requirement. The maps are expected by July 2016, said Anna Boroff, Minnesota Corn public policy director.

Boroff reviewed the buffer proposal during a Minnesota Corn Grower’s Association district meeting in Fairmont July 22. Minnesota Corn staff held six meetings across the state from July 8 to July 23 to talk about hot topics, including Waters of the United States, the Renewable Fuels Standard and buffers. Forty to 60 people attended each meeting.

Looking back

At the beginning of the legislative session, no one was talking about buffers, Boroff said. Rather, taxes and transportation got the attention. But the discussion shifted to buffers, water quality and wildlife habitat after Dayton called for mandatory 50-foot buffers on all waters at a Jan. 16 DNR Roundtable.

It wasn’t until March, relatively late in the session, that Dayton’s buffer bill became public, Boroff said. Rep. Paul Torkelson, R-Hanska, and Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville, carried the legislation. The bill had one hearing in each chamber, but much of the discussion happened behind the scenes.

Dayton held meetings across the state that drew 200 to 300 people. He met privately with farm leaders.

“The governor has been very engaged,” said Kevin Paap, Minnesota Farm Bureau president, in a May interview with Agri News. “The governor certainly wants to do something to address water quality.”

Around 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. May 17, final language was brought forward in conference committee, Boroff said. The language was acceptable to farm groups. Then, the bill was vetoed. Dayton signed the agriculture, environment and natural resources bill in June.

Be engaged

Warren Formo, executive director of the Minnesota Agricultural Water Resource Center, said counties are now required to report on buffer progress, which is good because there was no previous accounting system, which made it difficult to tell how many buffers were in place.

The language also allows farmers to use an alternative water quality practice or a combination of practices to meet the buffer protection requirement, Formo said. He encouraged farmers to consider this option.

Will buffers improve water quality? That’s a yes-no-maybe answer, Formo said.

Yes, put where needed and properly designed and managed, buffers are effective at reducing sediment and phosphorus runoff, he said. But, buffers do little to reduce nitrates. Further, buffers will help with pesticide application setbacks.

Watch for the maps next summer, he encouraged. Ground truth the maps and comment on them.

An audience member asked if buffers must be put on grassed waterways. Formo said the “benefited area of a public drainage system” language makes it hard to answer that question. The audience member said farmers might plow up a waterway rather than install a buffer.

“Regulation is a tremendous hinderance to good conservation,” Formo said.

Farmers are also responding to the legislation by filling in ditches and replacing them with tile, he said.

Buffer installation

Farmers have a couple options when it comes to installing buffers. They can explore cost-share options at the state or federal level or install a buffer on their own. Realize there might be land-use restrictions if government dollars are used to install a buffer, Formo said.

In Martin County, the ditch redetermination process began in 2008, said Greg Johanson with the Martin County Soil and Water Conservation District. After getting through the process, buffers were installed on the ditches. There are nine county or judicial ditch systems in the county that still need to be redetermined, he said. Johanson expects the process should be close to completion in 2018. There are 200 miles of ditches in Martin County.

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