DelMarVa Observer - Your Source for News From and About DelMarVa
DELMAR, MD – Joshua D. Shelton, 21, of Delmar has been charged with the deaths of 70,000 chickens. Shelton is believed to have turned off the electrical power to a chicken house while drunk. The estimated cost of property crime is $20,000 plus the cost of clean-up.
From the Star Democrat -
CORDOVA, MD — After a 15-month struggle, a group of local farmers recently got relief from owing almost $1 million to a federal agency that wanted payback for conservation contracts.
U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., applauded the decision from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Appeal Division that granted equitable relief and reinstated the Conservation Security Program (CSP) contract for the farmers. Referred to in case documents as the Hutchison brothers, the group also includes Sonny Eaton and Mike Elben.
The latest ruling ends the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) efforts to make the farmers pay back about $350,000 each for three farms that received federal conservation funding over six years.
“The NAD’s decision in the Hutchison Brothers’ case is a just decision granting a well deserved reprieve to a group of Maryland farmers who just want to do the right thing to preserve the resources on their farms and protect the Bay,” Cardin said.
Cardin wrote to the appeals division early this year, and urged it to provide the relief. The decision ends a struggle that started in 2006 when the Hutchison brothers and several other farmers entered into CSP contracts with the NRCS.
WASHINGTON – Imagine you grew up on a farm. Your life would probably have consisted of school, church, 4-H and / or FFA, … and doing chores on the family farm. If the Obama administration has its way that would end.
Under regulations proposed by the Obama Labor Department children under 18 could no longer perform routine chores on the family farm. In effect, child labor laws would apply to kids working on their own family’s farms.
HANFORD, CA – A rendering company has confirmed that a cow at its Hanford transfer station has tested positive for “mad cow disease”. Dennis Luckey, executive vice president of Baker Commodities in Los Angeles, told the Associated Press the disease was discovered after workers selected the cow for random sampling.
SALISBURY, MD – The Wicomico Neighborhood Congress will host its second “2011 Community Dialogue” on Tuesday, December 13th at Guerrieri Auditorium on the campus of Wor-Wic Community College. After a successful debate on the county’s revenue cap, the second event will focus on land use:
“Can the County’s Farmers and Environmentalists Still Be Friends?”
***
Second 2011 Community Dialogue
Sponsored by the Wicomico Neighborhood Congress
on
Tuesday Evening * December 13
the Campus of Wor-Wic Community College
From 7:00 to 9:00 PM
***
In the Guerrieri Auditorium on
(Plentiful Parking Available)
***
FOCUS: If we are ever going to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, and preserve the rural and agrarian heritage of the Lower Shore, it will require a partnership between our farmers (and especially the poultry industry) and other citizens (and especially our environmental leadership). While not always in lockstep, these community forces will come together to discuss where they agree, and where they differ – and most importantly, how they can work together in the future for the preservation and betterment of our rural County.
***
Featured speakers will be:
BILL SATTERFIELD of Delmarva Poultry Industry, and ALAN GIRARD of Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
Moderator is Dr. JUDITH STRIBLING of Salisbury University (NOTE: Stribling is also a board member of the Nanticoke Watershed Alliance)
For information contact Mike Pretl at 443-323-3060 or mikepretl@aol.com
or Cindy Pilchard at 410-742-5224 or cindypilchardco@comcast.net.
SALISBURY, MD – The Wicomico Neighborhood Congress will host its second “2011 Community Dialogue” on Tuesday, December 13th at Guerrieri Auditorium on the campus of Wor-Wic Community College. After a successful debate on the county’s revenue cap, the second event will focus on land use:
“Can the County’s Farmers and Environmentalists Still Be Friends?”
***
Second 2011 Community Dialogue
Sponsored by the Wicomico Neighborhood Congress
on
Tuesday Evening * December 13
the Campus of Wor-Wic Community College
From 7:00 to 9:00 PM
***
In the Guerrieri Auditorium on
(Plentiful Parking Available)
***
FOCUS: If we are ever going to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, and preserve the rural and agrarian heritage of the Lower Shore, it will require a partnership between our farmers (and especially the poultry industry) and other citizens (and especially our environmental leadership). While not always in lockstep, these community forces will come together to discuss where they agree, and where they differ – and most importantly, how they can work together in the future for the preservation and betterment of our rural County.
***
Featured speakers will be:
BILL SATTERFIELD of Delmarva Poultry Industry, and ALAN GIRARD of Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
Moderator is Dr. JUDITH STRIBLING of Salisbury University (NOTE: Stribling is also a board member of the Nanticoke Watershed Alliance)
For information contact Mike Pretl at 443-323-3060 or mikepretl@aol.com
or Cindy Pilchard at 410-742-5224 or cindypilchardco@comcast.net.
EASTON, MD – In response to an op-ed published by the Star-Democrat, the chairman of the Worcester County Soil Conservation District (WSCD) argues that the head of the Mid-Shore Riverkeeper Conservancy, Tim Junkin, knowingly wrote false information.
"To read (Junkin’s) letter one would assume that the Worcester Soil Conservation District and the Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) have been permitting the abuse of tax dollars. Not so," wrote David Hudson.
Junkin claimed that the Hudson family (not related to David Hudson) received state funds to install concrete pads but did not do so. Hudson offered that this was totally false. Junkin also argues that because the Hudson family did not have a nutrient management plan in place they are somehow guilty of polluting the Pocomoke River and the Chesapeake Bay. This is despite the findings of the Maryland Department of the Environment.
"While every farmer is required to have a current nutrient management plan, not having one does not always indicate there is a pollution issue or a misuse of nutrients, just a lack of compliance that indeed must be corrected," David Hudson wrote.
Junkin also claimed:
… the poultry industry produces 44 percent of Maryland’s nitrogen and phosphorus and 65 percent of sediment all contributing to Chesapeake Bay pollution.
These claims are false and even exceed the estimates of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
"For farmers that pollute, there are laws on the books and enforcement actions through the Maryland Department of the Environment to stop pollution. Lawsuits to put farmers out of business are unproductive and will only discourage farmers from seeking assistance," David Hudson wrote.
SALISBURY, MD – The Wicomico Neighborhood Congress will host its second “2011 Community Dialogue” on Tuesday, December 13th at Guerrieri Auditorium on the campus of Wor-Wic Community College. After a successful debate on the county’s revenue cap, the second event will focus on land use:
“Can the County’s Farmers and Environmentalists Still Be Friends?”
***
Second 2011 Community Dialogue
Sponsored by the Wicomico Neighborhood Congress
on
Tuesday Evening * December 13
the Campus of Wor-Wic Community College
From 7:00 to 9:00 PM
***
In the Guerrieri Auditorium on
(Plentiful Parking Available)
***
FOCUS: If we are ever going to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, and preserve the rural and agrarian heritage of the Lower Shore, it will require a partnership between our farmers (and especially the poultry industry) and other citizens (and especially our environmental leadership). While not always in lockstep, these community forces will come together to discuss where they agree, and where they differ – and most importantly, how they can work together in the future for the preservation and betterment of our rural County.
***
Featured speakers will be:
BILL SATTERFIELD of Delmarva Poultry Industry, and ALAN GIRARD of Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
Moderator is Dr. JUDITH STRIBLING of Salisbury University (NOTE: Stribling is also a board member of the Nanticoke Watershed Alliance)
For information contact Mike Pretl at 443-323-3060 or mikepretl@aol.com
or Cindy Pilchard at 410-742-5224 or cindypilchardco@comcast.net.
Over here on the Eastern Shore we are constantly told that environmentalists want to “preserve our agricultural heritage”. Usually that means stripping farmers, foresters, and other large landowners of their property rights. We’re told that taking away a farmer’s development rights will magically increase the value of his or her land … despite the fact that such a notion violates a basic law of economics. We’re told to look across the Bay to see how such restrictions work. OK – let’s look.
Today’s Baltimore Sun has a great article about several farm families who can’t profitably farm their land without the opportunity to use their land for other uses (while continuing to farm the land). OH NO! The same sort of folks who wanted to restrict the development of farmland, now fight those farmers being able to make a living. The priority is clear – Not In My Back Yard! That’s really “saving our agricultural heritage”.
ANNAPOLIS, MD – Governor Martin O’Malley received approval from U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Thomas J. Vilsack for Maryland’s request for a disaster designation for widespread crop losses due to extreme weather conditions this year, which included excessive heat, drought, and damage resulting from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee.
“Because farmers throughout most of Maryland experienced significant crop losses, we requested a disaster designation and thank Secretary Vilsack for granting it,” said Governor O’Malley. “It is our hope that the designation will provide relief to the farmers who need it and help them prepare for the next growing season.”
“From April through October, Maryland farmers experienced widespread crop losses due to a variety of extreme weather conditions ranging from excessive heat, drought and flooding,” said Buddy Hance, secretary of the Maryland Department of Agriculture. “Farmers in the disaster designation areas experienced market value losses exceeding 30 percent.”
This designation makes farm operators in the 15 primary counties – Calvert, Caroline, Cecil, Dorchester, Frederick, Howard, Kent, Montgomery, Queen Anne’s, St. Mary’s, Somerset, Talbot, Washington, Wicomico and Worcester – as well as the counties of Allegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Charles, Harford, Prince George’s, and the independent city of Baltimore – eligible to be considered for assistance from the USDA Farm Service Agency, provided eligibility requirements are met. Farmers must have purchased crop insurance on eligible crops to quality for USDA disaster assistance programs.
This assistance includes USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) emergency loans and the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments (SURE) Program. Farmers in eligible counties have eight months from the date of a Secretarial disaster declaration to apply for emergency loan assistance. FSA will consider each emergency loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of production losses, security available, and repayment ability. SURE Program applications for 2011 crop losses will be accepted in 2012, when the 2011 farm revenue data required by statute becomes available.
WASHINGTON – The slaughtering of horses for human consumption could soon be a reality. Congress recently lifted a five year ban on USDA inspection of horsemeat. Some animal rights activists predict that horse slaughterhouses could begin opening within a month.
While no funds have been appropriated for the inspection of horsemeat, the USDA states that it will move forward with inspection if any requests are made:
The USDA issued a statement Tuesday saying there are no slaughterhouses in the U.S. that butcher horses for human consumption now, but if one were to open, it would conduct inspections to make sure federal laws were being followed. USDA spokesman Neil Gaffney declined to answer questions beyond what was in the statement.
The last horsemeat processing facility in the US closed in 2007.
ANNAPOLIS, MD – The administration of Gov. Martin O’Malley has put a hold on new rules regulating how and when farmers may fertilize their fields. The Maryland Department of Agriculture had planned to issue new regulations this Friday. Those regulations are now postponed due to pressure from the state’s agricultural community and municipal leaders.
The proposed regulations would have limited the use of animal manure during the fall and winter months. In addition, farmers would have been forced to fence off streams to prevent access by livestock. Municipalities complained about the proposed rules because they would have been banned from spreading sewage sludge on fields during the fall and winter months.
photo courtesy of the Baltimore Sun
SALISBURY, MD – The Wicomico Neighborhood Congress will host its second “2011 Community Dialogue” on Tuesday, December 13th at Guerrieri Auditorium on the campus of Wor-Wic Community College. After a successful debate on the county’s revenue cap, the second event will focus on land use:
“Can the County’s Farmers and Environmentalists Still Be Friends?”
***
Second 2011 Community Dialogue
Sponsored by the Wicomico Neighborhood Congress
on
Tuesday Evening * December 13
the Campus of Wor-Wic Community College
From 7:00 to 9:00 PM
***
In the Guerrieri Auditorium on
(Plentiful Parking Available)
***
FOCUS: If we are ever going to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, and preserve the rural and agrarian heritage of the Lower Shore, it will require a partnership between our farmers (and especially the poultry industry) and other citizens (and especially our environmental leadership). While not always in lockstep, these community forces will come together to discuss where they agree, and where they differ – and most importantly, how they can work together in the future for the preservation and betterment of our rural County.
***
Featured speakers will be:
BILL SATTERFIELD of Delmarva Poultry Industry, and ALAN GIRARD of Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
Moderator is Dr. JUDITH STRIBLING of Salisbury University (NOTE: Stribling is also a board member of the Nanticoke Watershed Alliance)
For information contact Mike Pretl at 443-323-3060 or mikepretl@aol.com
or Cindy Pilchard at 410-742-5224 or cindypilchardco@comcast.net.
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