The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets is launching a new program that will pay farmers up to $50,000 to manage phosphorus on their land and improve water quality.
Many farmers use manure, which contains phosphorus, to fertilize their fields. Run-off from their fields is then rich with nutrients and contributes to toxic cyanobacteria blooms, such as the ones on Lake Champlain last summer. But agriculture is just one part of the problem. Wastewater treatment facilities as well as run-off from forests and streambanks also significantly contribute to high nutrient levels in some of Vermont’s lakes.
Unlike previous cost-share programs, the payments will be performance-based: The agency will pay $100 per pound of phosphorus that farmers keep out of waterways. Vermont already requires farmers to reduce phosphorus losses from their land, and the payments will reward farmers who go above and beyond state mandates.
The Vermont Pay for Phosphorus Program will be funded with a $7 million grant from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. $4.9 million will go directly to farmers.
Each farm accepted into the program will receive an initial payment of $4,000. The agency aims to work with 40 to 50 farms on data entry and to enroll 20 to 30 for phosphorus reduction payments of up to $50,000 per farm in 2022. Proponents of the program emphasize its flexibility. Farmers will be able to work with state experts if they need guidance, or they can independently develop management plans.
“Vermont’s farmers are good stewards of the land. This program will help provide them with the financial support they need to further improve that legacy of stewardship,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D.-Vt., in a statement. “It will help them to protect the waterways we all share.”
Farmers have until Jan. 31 to apply for the program. More information is available at https://agriculture.vermont.gov/VPFP.
— Staff report