Sixth District Rep. Bob Goodlatte thinks farmers living in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed have voluntarily done their part in recent years to reduce nutrient pollution working toward the bay.
During an agriculture conference he sponsored Tuesday at the Frontier Culture Museum, Goodlatte, R-Va., said he wants farmers to continue installation of voluntary buffers, livestock fencing and other measures that stop nitrogen and phosphorous from flowing into creeks and streams.
“Farmers do not get enough credit for reducing nitrogen and phosphorous,’’ Goodlatte said.
Goodlatte has co-sponsored the Chesapeake Bay Program Reauthorization and Improvement Act legislation with Rep. Tim Holden, D-Pa. The legislation passed the House Agriculture Committee in July.
The legislation counters bills from two Maryland congressional members that would ramp up Environmental Protection Agency enforcement of farmers’ practices.
The congressman said his legislation would also continue the agreement between states in the Bay Watershed rather than increasing federal oversight.
Goodlatte also advised farmers that leaner times are coming for federal farm programs because of the tighter budget.
“No one will be exempt from cutting back,’’ said Goodlatte.
Farmers received some encouraging news about the export market in Virginia for agricultural and forestry products.
Virginia Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Todd Haymore said the commonwealth now averages $2.3 billion a year in agricultural and forestry exports.
“There are more opportunities for our producers. There is a nice uptick in exports,’’ Haymore said.
Haymore said he has already represented Virginia on trade missions to the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Germany, and will participate in three more missions later this year.
In a later interview, Goodlatte said getting the full access for Virginia farm exports abroad is a constant challenge.
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