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Category Archives: Water Quality
Feedback and Unintended Policy Consequences
Today has been a day to reflect on the way things actually work and the perverse outcomes that sometimes obtain when we do what seems logical…meaning, of course, that unintended consequences are everywhere. —– Over the past 20 years or so, perhaps more, environmental advocacy groups (Environmental Defense, Sierra Club, etc.) have trained their guns on industrial agriculture, especially industrial ANIMAL agriculture, arguing that the larger our “animal factories” (their term, not mine!) become, the greater risk they pose to the environment. The logical conclusion they reach is… Read More →
NCBA Environmental Stewardship Award Program
Do you raise cattle as your life’s vocation? Are you a dedicated steward of your land, cattle, air, water, and community? Are you a dedicated servant-leader of your fellow cattle producers (and agricultural producers generally)? If the answer to all three of those questions is “yes,” then maybe it’s time you thought about applying to the prestigious National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Environmental Stewardship Award Program! Here is the NCBA-ESAP Application 2016. The 2016 Regional winners have already been selected, but it’s never too early to start thinking about a 2017 application. In… Read More →
Clean Water Act and Livestock Producers
Short post today. Over at the Texas Agriculture Law Blog last week, Tiffany Dowell-Lashmet posted a couple of articles that will be of interest to livestock producers in the southern High Plains. In this post, the question is whether or not winter grazing of cropland residues is an activity that requires a federal NPDES permit under the federal Clean Water Act. In this weekly roundup, the second summary asks whether or not land-applied livestock manure may be considered a “hazardous waste” under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act… Read More →