Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What is a Nutrient Management Plan (NMP)?

A. A NMP is a document and plan outlining the amount, placement, timing, and application method of nutrients on an individual farm. NMPs are effective tools to help minimize damage to a community’s ground and surface water. The plans also incorporate practices known as Best Management Practices that keep both agricultural and specific environmental concerns in mind. The individuality of the document allows for variables, such as soil type, proximity to water, and farming costs, to be considered and implemented in a beneficial manner for all interests.

Q. What are nutrients?

A. Nutrients are elements and compounds that, in limited amounts, are used to enhance plant and soil health, but, in excessive amounts, can be detrimental and are considered pollution. These can come in the form of manure and commercial fertilizers. More common nutrients are nitrogen and phosphorous. Other nutrients include various forms of organic matter.

Q. Do NMPs only cover nutrients?

A. According to the language of the sample bill text, only nutrients are covered by the plan. However, by controlling when, how, and how much of the nutrients are applied to the land, the placement of other pollutants that may coexist with the nutrient material will simultaneously be reduced. These pollutants include, but are not limited to, solids, pathogens, odorous compounds (such as ammonia), salts, trace elements (metals), pesticides, antibiotics, and hormones.

Q. What other factors do NMPs address?

A. In addition to nutrients, NMPs minimally address manure storage and proper applications of nutrients, and include maps identifying critical areas, such as water sources. NMPs also incorporate the best available agricultural and scientific practices, while allowing individual flexibility between unique tracts of land.

Q. Why should farms be required to file a NMP?

A. Farms are some of the largest contributors to non-point surface water pollution. As a result of agricultural runoff, problems have begun to arise, like the infamous Gulf of Mexico’s “dead zone.” Well contamination due to excessive nitrates is also a growing problem and has prompted human health concerns over contaminated drinking water sources.

Q. Aren’t large farms the primary problem?

A. It is true that large farms, or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), are bigger contributors to the excessive nutrient problem than smaller farms. It is important to realize that federal rules primarily use numbers as a guideline for determining if a farm is a CAFO; the next factor that is considered is whether the operation is a significant contributor of pollutants to waters of the U.S. Therefore, under new federal rules, it is possible for a farm with 995 mature cows not to be considered a CAFO and avoid filing a federally mandated NMP. Read a report, Regulatory Definitions of Large CAFOs, Medium CAFO, and Small CAFOs, compiled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) that explains which farms are considered CAFOs.

Q. Why should states require a NMP to be filed by individual farmers if the farms are not federally classified as a CAFO?

A. States should require NMPs to be filed because it is another tool to effectively deal with non-point surface water pollution. It is a misconception to think that a farm is non-polluting solely because it is not federally classified as a CAFO. It is important to recognize that agricultural practices change significantly each year and it is necessary to continuously update methods to protect the environment.