Farm
Stewardship Committee
Contributing to
Healthy Horses and a Healthy Environment in Maryland
Meeting Report
The Maryland Horse Council Farm
Steward Committee’s Winter Meeting was held on February 17, 2014 at the snow-covered
“pool house” of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation Phillip Merrill Environmental
Center in Annapolis, Maryland, over looking the bay. About 30 stalwart people came from across Maryland
Jane Thery, chair of the committee,
opened the meeting with an overview of plans for 2014, including adding at
least 10 more horse farms to the Farm Stewardship Certification and Assessment
Program (FSCAP), completing a study of the state of horse manure management and
composting funded by the Maryland Horse Industry Board, disseminating
information on environmental laws, regulations and assistance programs, looking
into options for naturalizing horse farms for flora and fauna preservation and
exploring new techniques for reducing the “carbon footprint” of stables through
the use of natural light, ventilation and alternative energy. She thanked Dan Johannes and Doug Myers of
the Chesapeake Bay Foundation for hosting the meeting, Matt Curran of the
Piedmont Group Insurance Solutions for sponsoring the refreshments and Maryland
Horse Council president Jane Seigler for her continuing support of this
initiative.
Steuart Pittman, our former
president, spoke on his experience in representing horse farms on the Maryland Department of Agriculture committee
writing the regulations for the “Agricultural Certainty” programs setting the
guidelines for which farms will be certified as compliant and receive a 10-year
waiver for the implementation of new environmental regulations. As in the case of nutrient trading, the
benefits for horse farms of this program are not yet clear. However, having a Horse Council representative
at the table helps keep the horse community represented in important discussions
among both the agricultural and environmental communities. Steuart praised the work of the MHC lobbyist
Frank Boston who is tracking legislation and highlighting issues of concern to
the horse community. For example, he
helped with a rule revision to simplify the process of upgrading farm buildings. Steuart reiterated the importance of having
the Farm Stewardship Committee in place as a concrete expression of the horse
community’s commitment to environmental issues.
Gerald Talbert, program director of
the Farm Stewardship Certification and Assessment Program (FSCAP), announced
that 14 horse farms are now certified.
He is sending out a letter introducing the program to the state’s about
600 licensed stables to solicit more participants. His goal is to significantly increase the
number of horse farms that have been certified and to recognize them as quality
stewards of their land. New outreach
efforts will also be made to the Thoroughbred breeders.
Justin Garrity of Veteran’s Compost http://www.veterancompost.com/
presented
the story of his operation’s founding and methods for composting primarily food
scraps. He has succeeded in bringing in
foods scraps from a variety of sources, composting them with a simple method of
piles and aeration, and screening the product for final sale. Justin serves on the state committee
determining composting regulations. He
uses his operation to demonstrate that composting can be done in an
environmentally sound manner. He is very
interested in using more horse manure in composting but has some concerns about
the issue of persistent herbicides which can kill plants and are sometimes
found in horse manure. Amy Burk, head of
equine studies at the University
of Maryland
Rob Schnabel of the Chesapeake Bay
Foundation’s program on Buffer Strips, Steam Fencing and Cost Sharing made a
presentation on the programs available for horse farms to fence off and restore
streams to better absorb run-off and provide natural habitat. There are significant funds available for
these projects. Rob is interested in
including more horse farms in this program.
He also discussed the Grazers’ Network which promotes
farmer-to-farmer technical assistance for grazing livestock. This program is oriented toward raising
livestock for consumption. Amy Burk
proposed the idea of establishing a parallel program for horse farms with links
to the University
of Maryland
Everyone
enjoyed the refreshments brought by Doug Myers!
The tentative date of the Spring Farm Stewardship meeting is May
15. For further information, please
contact Jane Thery at theryjane@gmail.com
or 202-527-2145.
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