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Cost Share Initiatives
Improving best management practices can be costly. Growers not only incur additional expense when using costly slow release fertilizer products, safer pesticides and bio-controls, but risk crop and financial loss. Suffolk County growers are especially at risk due to rising land values and costs associated with farming in a suburban affluent region. Programs offering financial incentives are essential for the Stewardship Program to achieve its objective of promoting agricultural production and environmental quality as compatible goals.
Suffolk County Soil and Water Conservation District and the US Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) offer financial incentives and provide technical assistance to growers who voluntarily apply and make a commitment to agricultural stewardship. Cost share programs such as: Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) and the Agricultural Pesticide Handling Facility (APHF) specifically target reduction in nitrates and pesticides and are compatible with the goals and objectives of Suffolk County’s Agricultural Stewardship Program.
Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)
EQIP is a voluntary program funded by NRCS. The objective of the program is to promote agricultural production and environmental quality as compatible goals and to optimize environmental benefits. Conservation practices which address reduction in non-point source pollution, reduction in soil loss and emissions, and promotion of at risk species habitat are eligible to apply.EQIP identifies appropriate conservation practices to address local resource concerns and provides cost-sharing and incentive payments to install or implement structural and management practices. EQIP contracts are written anywhere from one year to a maximum term of ten years. The program will pay up to 75 percent of the cost of certain practices (not to exceed a maximum set cost) with incentive payments provided up to three years.
Suffolk County EQIP Contracts:
Agricultural Pesticide Handling Facility (APHF)
The Agricultural Pesticide Handling Facility (APHF) is an important addition to Suffolk County’s Agricultural Stewardship Program. The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) reached an agreement with Suffolk County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) to use money obtained through administrative enforcement actions to provide 75 percent cost-share funding up to a maximum of $30,000 per handling facility.The facility is a permanent or portable structure designed to provide an area for controlled mixing and containment of on-farm agrichemicals. The APHF protects groundwater and the environment by containing, collecting, and storing on-farm agrichemicals during mixing, loading, unloading, and rinsing operations.
A committee made up of representatives from Suffolk County SWCD, DEC, Long Island Farm Bureau, Cornell Cooperative Extension and two growers meet to review and approve submitted engineering designs and prioritize funding for applicants requesting APHF funding.
Agricultural Pesticide Handling Facility Applications:
Long Island agricultural growers could benefit from additional cost-share initiatives to improve pest and nutrient management practices and protect the region’s aquifer.
Agricultural Commodity & Cost-Share Projects that would further reduce leaching of pesticides and nutrients into Long Island’s aquifer:
Potato/Vegetable
Greenhouse
Field and Container Nursery
Sod
Vineyards and Tree Fruit
- Controlled release fertilizers for use in production as a means of reducing nitrate loading into groundwater and improving economic efficiency of N fertilizers
- Update spray equipment attachments such as new nozzles for improved spray applications for more effective and efficient control
- Compost application on farm fields to improve soil quality and increase the beneficial microbe population of the soil
- Cover cropping with use of legume and nonlegume crops
- Use of green manure to improve soil and reduce reliance on water-soluble fertilizers
- New types of equipment attachments such as high residue cultivators and weed control tools
- Pre Sidedress Nitrogen Tests (PSNT), to evaluate and adjust fertilizer programs to reduce fertilizer leaching potential
- Tissue and corn stalk sampling to evaluate and adjust fertilizer programs to reduce fertilizer leaching potential
- Reduced tillage production system
- Increased reliance on scouting to monitor thresholds prior to application of pesticides
- Release of beneficial insects to control and manage crop insect pests and directly reduce insecticide applications
- Subirrigation system (ebb and flow benches) to reduce nitrate leaching into groundwater and improve economic efficiency of N fertilizers
- Pressure compensating drip irrigation system to minimize leaching and provide consistent irrigation/watering of greenhouse plants
- Biological fungicides for plant disease management in floriculture
- Increased use of new pesticide products that are environmentally benign, safe to use around people and pets and have minimal effects on non-target organisms.
Examples include:
- Reduced-risk: pesticides that meet certain EPA criteria
such as very low toxicity to humans and non-target organisms
including fish and birds, low risk of groundwater contamination
or runoff, low potential for pesticide resistance, demonstrated
efficacy and compatibility with IPM (integrated pest management)
- Biological pesticides: defined by EPA, derived from such natural
materials as animals, plants, bacteria and certain minerals, such as:
- Microbial pesticides: containing bacteria, fungi, virus, etc.
as the active ingredient- Plant-pesticides: pesticidal substances which plants produce
from added genetic material- Biochemical pesticides: comprised of naturally occurring substances
that control pests by non-toxic mechanisms
(such as pheromones or some insect growth regulators)
- Update spray equipment attachments, such as new nozzles, for improved
spray applications and more effective and efficient control- Update spray equipment with electrostatic sprayer to improve spray
application and reduce drift/leaching of pesticides into groundwater
- Mating disruption with pheromones to help control future pest populations and reduce the number of insecticide applications
- Increased use of new pesticide products that are environmentally benign, safe to use around people and pets and have minimal effects on non-target organisms
- Update spray equipment attachments such as new nozzles for improved spray applications for more effective and efficient control
- Update irrigation nozzles for improved coverage and to reduce pesticide/fertilizer runoff and leaching into groundwater
- Compost applications on fields to improve soil quality and increase the beneficial microbe population of the soil
- Slow release and side dressing fertilizer applications to evaluate and adjust fertilizer programs to reduce fertilizer leaching potential
- Implement better management practices in selection of nitrogen sources and application rate to minimize the contamination of groundwater from managed turfgrass areas, such as sod, while maintaining a rapid production rate
- Update spray equipment to improve spray application and reduce drift/leaching of pesticide/herbicide into groundwater
- Update spray equipment attachments such as new nozzles for improved spray applications for more effective and efficient control
- Use of living mulch beneath vineyard trellis to control weeds and reduce agricultural contaminants leaching into groundwater
- Mating disruption with pheromones to help control future pest populations and reduce the number of insecticide applications
- Increased use of biocontrols in fruit production
- Increased reliance on scouting to monitor thresholds prior to application of pesticides
- Use of foliar testing to monitor nitrogen needs and reduce over application
This program is funded by the
Suffolk County Water Quality Protection and Restoration Program.November 2008