Compromise on crop-residue burning good move

By Frank Priestly
Tuesday, March 18, 2008 6:13 PM CDT

Legislation aimed at reinstating Idaho farmers’ ability to burn crop residue is a big benefit that will help keep families on their farms. But it wouldn’t have been possible without making compromises that came in the form of increased regulations.

Prior to a court ruling last year, farmers throughout southern Idaho were allowed to burn crop residue, mostly wheat and barley stubble, almost at will. However, North Idaho’s Kentucky bluegrass seed industry has been operating under strict crop burning regulations for several years. After an environmental group’s 2007 lawsuit halted the practice statewide on a procedural technicality, Gov. Butch Otter encouraged both sides to negotiate a settlement.

After several months of strenuous negotiations, representatives for Safe Air For Everyone (SAFE), Idaho Farm Bureau Federation, the Idaho Grain Producers Association, individual growers, and the state departments of agriculture and environmental quality came up with the following compromises that are expected to reinstatement the program.

First, the program is now statewide, and the regulator will no longer be the agriculture department. Idaho DEQ will oversee the program. Second, growers must register the fields to be burned and pay a $2 an acre fee. Third, burn days will be chosen only when air-quality levels do not exceed 75 percent of the national standard. Fourth, information on persons responsible for burning, location, crop type, number of acres to be burned, and time of burning will become a matter of public record.

DEQ officials have expressed confidence that there will be an adequate number of burn days with the new standards, but producers will need to remain flexible when atmospheric conditions change.

The Idaho Legislature is to be commended for fast-tracking legislation that helps pave the way for burning to resume, hopefully by mid-September. The bill passed both the House and Senate unanimously and was signed by Gov. Otter on March 7. The new program must still be approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency before burning can resume.

Idaho farmers should understand that from a negotiating perspective, the court’s decision had taken away crop residue burning as a farm tool, which is the reason for the new regulations. The burning program only applies to crop residue left on fields where it was grown. Open fires for weed abatement along fence lines, canal banks and ditch banks already are allowed. Without the compromise, the ban on burning would have lingered into the future, threatening the viability of many farms n especially bluegrass seed producers who depend on burning as the only practical tool to remove residue. Burning exposes the crown of bluegrass plants to sunlight, allowing the perennial crop to regenerate itself. Idaho farmers should further understand that they need to follow these new rules or face stiff penalties.

Frank Priestley is president of Idaho Farm Bureau Federation.

Comments »

Comment on this story

Comments will be approved within 48 hours

Name:

Email: (optional)

Comments:

Image Verification: (Case sensitive)