By the California Farm Bureau Federation:
Predicting that it will have a profound impact on Central Coast agriculture, farm organizations expressed disappointment in a final waste-discharge regulation adopted by a regional water quality board.
Known as the Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program for Central Coast Agriculture, and by the shorthand term Ag Order 4.0, the regulatory permit governs runoff from irrigated farmland. It received unanimous approval last week from the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board.
Agricultural advocates said the regional board made few changes to the order that would have made it easier for farmers to comply—and therefore achieve the desired results.
Ag Order 4.0 expands monitoring and reporting requirements and also sets a limit on the amount of nitrogen farmers can apply to crops.
For three years, California Farm Bureau Senior Counsel Kari Fisher said, agricultural stakeholders including the Farm Bureau provided feedback regarding the proposal, detailing the challenges it would create for farmers and ranchers on the Central Coast.
Fisher said farm groups invested much time in developing “a robust, third-party alternative” that would protect surface water and groundwater quality. But she said the newly adopted order does not include the agricultural organizations’ full alternative proposal, which featured incentives for individual farmers who take a collective or third-party approach to meeting the regulations.
“Although agricultural stakeholders were successful in getting some significant revisions to the final adopted order, there’s still numerous provisions that are concerning to Central Coast agriculture,” Fisher said.
Those problematic provisions include the regional board’s decision to hold farmers accountable as “dischargers,” due to what staff described as “passive migration” of groundwater that includes the contaminant 1,2,3-trichloropropane (TCP)—something Fisher said hasn’t been used in agriculture for decades.
In addition, the order requires enforceable limits on nitrogen fertilizer applications, which Fisher said she believes “goes beyond the scope of the regional water quality control board” by regulating what is applied to a field.
“The board’s authority is to regulate the discharge of water from the field,” Fisher said.
Another provision in the order puts enforceable limits on the amount of nitrogen that might be discharged from the farm.
Monterey County Farm Bureau Executive Director Norm Groot said Ag Order 4.0 will take a financial toll on Central Coast farmers, and will “substantially change” the character of farming on the Central Coast.
“Small farms will be challenged to meet all the confusing, complex requirements,” Groot said, “and larger farms will spend more resources on data gathering, reporting and calculations than actual water quality improvements.”
He added that experts to help farmers manage the program would be hard to find, “as we already have a shortage of professionals who can assist with irrigation nutrient management plans.”
“What the board has crafted cannot be successfully implemented without a strong, third-party alternative; all incentives for growers to participate have been removed or minimized, and are punitive with respect to compliance qualifications for membership,” Groot said.
With Ag Order 4.0 now in effect, Fisher said, individuals and entities that want to challenge it have until May 17 to file an appeal with the State Water Resources Control Board.
For more information about the order, see www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralcoast/water_issues/programs/ag_waivers/ag_order4_renewal.html.
