One very important activity is to assess all areas of possible environmental impact resulting from your operation. Some common areas include manure storage and application, chemicals used and stored on the site, proximity to water bodies, critical environmental resource areas, such as wetlands, etc. One step that even small farms should consider is to develop a nutrient management plan for your facility. Cooperative Extension or other qualified technical service providers can make available the necessary assessment tools and assistance. The complexity of the plan should be tailored to the size and nature of your operation. Your assessment should be sure to identify all regulations that may affect your operation and verify that you are in full compliance with those that specifically apply to your facility.
At this point, you can begin to identify and rank additional measures to further reduce the environmental impact of your operation. Guidance in setting such priorities can come from the actions included in your nutrient management plan, other impacts identified in your environmental assessment, or from conditions included in eco-labeling programs that you may be interested in joining.
This process will not happen overnight. You will need to prioritize and make improvements that have the greatest benefits (including bringing you into regulatory compliance) first.
Information on this topic is available from the Small Farms fact sheet series in the Livestock and Poultry Environmental Stewardship Curriculum Small-Scale Farmers and the Environment: How to Be a Good Steward and Nutrient Management-SIMPLIFIED!. Tools to help you conduct an environmental assessment and information about a systematic approach to environmental management for farms and ranches are available at the U.S. EPA National Ag Compliance Assistance Center Agriculture EMS Web site.
Author: Jeff Potent, USEPA Region 2/Land Grant University Liaison
