Local poultry industry hopes MDA will delay PMT regulations

MARYLAND – Members of the poultry industry are saying they need more time before the state implements farming regulations. Now these regulations aren’t new, but the according to state plans, 2019 was supposed to be the year the state started implementing phosphorus restrictions for soil on farms.

“We’re hopeful that when MDA takes a look at all of this that they will give us a waiver for the 2020 year,” explains Virgil Shockley, a local Worcester County farmer.

Shockley along with members of the Delmarva Poultry Industry Inc. are asking state officials to delay the roll out of new regulations regarding the Phosphorus Management Tool, better known as PMT.

Mainly because farmers are still recovering from a bad season.

“You have a situation where after the bad year in 2018 and the decline in prices corn soybeans all are down,” explains Shockley.

According to the new regulations, farmers who have soil tests with PMT amounts higher than allowed will have to stop using manure and start using fertilizer. But Shockley says using fertilizer isn’t cheap and right now roughly 25 percent of the fields in the lower three counties would not meet the requirements.

“That’s $40 to $50 an acre in a year where your corn prices are down, your bean prices are down, and your input cost is outpacing the yield in which your getting and what you’re getting for your yield,” says Shockley.

With a bad 2018 in the rear view, a 2019 season with increased costs could spell the end for some farmers. A letter from the DPI to the Maryland Department of Agriculture said as much.

In response, the MDA released a statement to 47 ABC saying, “The department is following the PMT Advisory Committee’s recommendation for a study to determine if there is a need to delay implementation. Any talk of a delay would be premature at this point. There is available farmland that will be able to take manure beyond 2020. Manure spreading restrictions only apply to farms with high phosphorus levels.”

But Shockley believes the delay probably won’t happen until at least next year.

“I don;t foresee that waiver happening in 2019 simply because it’s already January of 2019.”

Now Delmarva Poultry Industry Inc. did release a statement to 47 ABC Thursday regarding MDA’s response to the request for delay saying, “We’re pleased that the Maryland Department of Agriculture is open to engaging in a comprehensive evaluation, as allowed by its regulations, of whether the transition management phases of the Phosphorus Management Tool should be extended.”

In addition to the financial concerns that could come with these implementations, DPI and Shockley say they are also concerned about where the manure will go if they can’t use it on their fields.

We’re also told alternative ways are being looked at and studies are being done, but according to Shockley, none of these projects will be ready for use by this year.