Farmers have mixed feelings over Hogan’s PMT regulations

Governor Larry Hogan’s four-part plan for the Phosphorus Management Tool in Maryland is sparking a mixed reaction among farmers.

Local farmers say the fact that Governor Hogan is taking regulatory action and not legislative action will make it easier to adjust as research and science changes.

Governor Hogan’s plans also include banning fields with a Fertility Index Value of 500 or greater from receiving additional phosphorus.

Lee Richardson, a Willards farmer, says it was a compromise they had to make but it will affect many local farms, including his own.

“We have some fields that we totally won’t be able to put any manure on, we’ll have some others that will come into effect as the years go on, at this time it doesn’t look like something we can’t live with or make work.”

Richardson says he is also in support of Hogan’s plan to collect soil every six years to test for phosphorus levels. He argues that will lead to regulations based off of science and not politics.