The methods used to farm have lasting impacts on water and habitat quality, animal welfare, farmers’ livelihoods, and access to fresh foods. The Chesapeake Bay watershed is home to 83,000 farms, which produce more than 50 important commodities including corn, soybeans, wheat, fruits, and vegetables. However, the level of production that currently supports farmers and consumers has come at a cost.

a group of people sitting in a trailer being hauled by a tractor

Attendees of a Conservation Farmer Workshop in Lancaster, Pennsylvania tour the farm.

Agriculture is the greatest source of pollution to the Chesapeake Bay, contributing large amounts of sediment and nutrients to local waterways and beyond. Giving farmers the support needed to adopt management improvements is essential to reducing this pollution.

cows stand in a barnyard in front of a barn and silos

Barnyard stabilization on a farm in Virginia

In recent years, the Alliance’s agriculture team has grown rapidly to help farmers implement sustainable solutions that address the unique needs of each farm and region. Read on to learn how farmers operate, how we can work with them to implement conservation practices, and how it all relates to sending cleaner water to the Bay!

As one of the largest watersheds in the country, sediment and nutrients from as far north as New York state make its way down to the open waters of the Bay itself.

Farmers in the Chesapeake Bay watershed face unique challenges. Limited land, rising costs, and constantly-changing markets can make it difficult for them to spend time and resources on conservation practices. Installing a new manure storage system, for example, is highly effective at both reducing pollution and boosting the farm’s efficiency. However, such solutions are costly and often out of reach without financial assistance.

a round concrete pit surrounded by a chain link fence

Manure storage installation on a dairy farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

Lack of space on the farm can also make practices, like converting cropland to trees and meadows, expensive. Farmland makes up about 30 percent of the 64,000-square-mile watershed . But compared to the Midwest and parts of the Western US, local farmers have a relatively small – and dwindling – amount of farmland to work with. This requires them to farm their land more intensively, which can increase pollution if their methods do not keep up. Excessive nutrients and natural gases are the main pollutants that are worsened by practices like conventional tillage, overcrowding animals, monocropping, overuse of herbicide, poor manure storage, and more.

Techniques to properly manage soil and manure are key to preventing nutrient pollution. Adding too many nutrients to the land can lead to “dead” soil which negatively impacts healthy fungi, insects, and crops. Nutrients also run off easily from unhealthy soil into waterways, harming plant and animal life downstream– a process known as nutrient loading. Agriculture contributes an estimated 48 percent of the excess nitrogen in the Chesapeake Bay, as well as 27 percent of its phosphorus load and 9 percent of its sediment. “Dead zones” form in the bay each year as a result of nutrient loading, which choke out the oxygen necessary for aquatic life.

blue crabs in a black bucket

Iconic Bay species like blue crabs rely on clean water to thrive, just as we rely on them economically and culturally.

The Alliance aims to reduce agricultural pollution by working directly with farmers. Many practices that are good for water quality also help improve the farm’s operational efficiency, animal welfare, and soil health. Our goals often go hand in hand, and farmers are the best judge of which practices will work best for their farms and families. Managing manure, reducing erosion, and increasing wildlife habitat are some of the broad mutual goals which can be achieved by implementing best management practices (BMPs).

These practices include an array of farming methods and infrastructure changes to reduce the negative impacts of agriculture. Working to change long-standing farm practices can be complex, based on many regional factors including cultural, economic, and environmental differences throughout the watershed. But they provide benefits to the entire region. Best management practices ultimately increase everyone’s access to clean water, healthy streams, fresh local foods, and more. The Alliance’s agriculture team is dedicated to working closely with farmers to adopt healthier practices– helping protect the future of agriculture and the Chesapeake Bay. Learn more about our agriculture efforts below.

 

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