Today the Commissioners of Agriculture and Rural Development approved proposed changes to the MAEAP. Included are changes that now make it impossible for those in Category 4 sites to be MAEAP verified for either Farmstead or Livestock. This vote came after a long discussion in which Commissioner Montri argued persuasively that Category 4 was created because of nuisance concerns for the GAAMPs, and this should be irrelevant to the MAEAP because that program considers environmental issues rather than nuisance issues. And, since small operations can clearly be run without environmental damage, it makes no sense to deny MAEAP verification for small farms. MDARD countered that since it is important to keep the GAAMPs aligned with the MAEAP, it is necessary to deny MAEAP verification to align with the April changes to the GAAMPs, which were designed to be impossible to meet for those in Category 4 sites. In addition, it was argued that the MAEAP is reviewed annually, and that this issue can be addressed again after the work of the Urban Livestock Workgroup is complete next March. So the vote was had, and the proposed changes were passed. Whatever you think of the logic or intent of the argument, the fact now stands that our Commission of Agriculture and Rural Development today approved changes to the MAEAP that, among other things, define operations as small as a single chicken to be a High Risk - Significant Hazard, if that chicken lives in a residential neighborhood. Meanwhile, CAFOs with tens of millions of gallons of liquid manure remain protected from nuisance complaints and local regulations by Right to Farm, and remain verified as environmentally sound by MAEAP. Alas, that topic was not on the agenda, and was not discussed by the Commissioners.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 22:10:11 +0000
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