MONTANDON — The director of nutrient management programs for the state conservation commission said tighter regulations in Pennsylvania might be convincing meat processors to expand in neighboring states instead of in the Keystone State.
"I've had some meat processors tell me that's the case," Doug Goodlander said Tuesday afternoon during a break at the Northumberland County Conservation District's winter conference.
The tighter regulations include requirements for better documentation of what happens to livestock manure after it leaves the farm where it originates, as well as more focus on determining whether applying manure will result in the addition of too much phosphorous to the soil.
And while the tightened regulations can be difficult for farmers to comply with, they are needed, Mr. Goodlander said.
The regulation providing better tracking of animal waste closed what critics had called "the export loophole," in that previously, farmers were required to document how much manure they applied to their own fields, but were not required to explain what happened to manure that they sold to someone else.
And the focus on phosphorous is important because that nutrient is considered to be a bigger threat to the region's waterways than nitrogen, the nutrient that farmers had been told to monitor.
The changes were driven, in part, by criticism raised by community groups who'd opposed plans to build large-scale farming operations near their homes, Mr. Goodlander said.
"Those things that made technical sense, we addressed," he said.
There are about 1,300 high-density livestock farms in Pennsylvania, with most of them being hog or poultry farms, he said. And while many of the cases of public outcry have involved hog farms, in the Central Susquehanna Valley, most of the high-density farms are poultry operations.
While there were several organized efforts to oppose plans by farmers to convert to high-density livestock practices in the region, no such community opposition has arisen in at least two years. And though fewer farms may be adopting high-density practices, some local farmers continue to do so.
It's unclear why many of these efforts go unchallenged by neighbor groups, but Mr. Goodlander said the amount of opposition may be getting stemmed by the state's increased regulatory efforts.
"There are not a lot of holes in the system now, so there may not be as much to complain about," he said.