On Farm Odor/Environmental
Assistance Program

Earl Dotson
Vice President, Education and Environment
National Pork Producers Council

It is clear the public attention and interest in environmental aspects of the pork industry will continue to be intense. We will see further development in the trends that are occurring today in the future. The public, is demanding the odor and environmental performance of the U.S. pork industry be significantly improved. Among the many significant developments in 1997 was the dramatic expansion of public interest in livestock environment issues to policy makers, opinion leaders and consumers outside the traditional livestock production areas. Pfiesteria and the Administration-led initiative to strengthen regulation of non-point source pollution have captured the attention of Americans who'd never given livestock production a second thought.

At the federal level, the Administration announced, in conjunction with the 25^th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, a multi-agency initiative to address three top environmental issues, one of which was non-point source pollution from agricultural sources. The Administration gave agencies, including EPA and USDA, 120 days to develop non-point source pollution strategies which will include proposals for additional regulation. Strong consideration is being given to a number of policy options, including phosphorus-based manure application limits, lower permit thresholds and new siting requirements.

A parallel development has been the increasing intensity of debate in an increasing number of state capitols as regulation of the pork industry becomes or remains a top-burner issue in the minds of state legislators, Attorneys General and other opinion leaders. At the state, and even the county level, a variety of moratoriums have been considered, or even enacted, and lawsuits involving swine operations are ongoing from the district court through the state Supreme Courts.

There isn't one answer. The pork industry will have to address this issue on more than one front, focusing on both our performance and communication.

First, our environmental performance, at the farm level, must be solid and continuously improving. Our industry makes its own headlines when any spills occur. To ensure good performance on both odor and water quality issues producers will have to apply the same systems approach to environmental management that are applied so successfully in other areas of production. In the same way that reproductive efficiency or feed efficiency can't be maximized by the use of single technologies alone, environmental management will involve a conscious decision by the producer to analyze the weak points of the operation and bring resources to bear on its solution. For producers in every region of the country, the environmental management decision to be made is not "if" or "when," but only "how."

The National Pork Producers Council is committed to programs that will help producers implement a systems approach to environmental management. Participation in these programs is vital to increasing the professionalism of our environmental management. One of these programs is the On Farm Odor/Environmental Assistance Program.

The On Farm Odor/Environmental Assistance program, launched by the National Pork Producers Council, is designed to provide producers with a neutral, third-party assessment of their operation's odor and environmental management effectiveness and provide recommendations to help solve these challenges.

The program was developed by several of the nation's most experienced professional agricultural engineers along with engineers from USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Cooperative Extension Service. A private environmental consulting firm with extensive experience in third-party verification of major EPA environmental assessment projects, Tetra Tech EMI, was retained to document that sound scientific principles and quality control measures are adhered to in every step of the process.

The On Farm Odor/Environmental Assistance program requires the active involvement of the producer as a team of trained engineers/technicians makes a detailed, on-site assessment of the operation's buildings, manure handling and storage structures, manure management plans and overall facility siting, operations and maintenance. The engineer develops a written report outlining management practices which could be altered to improve odor and environmental performance and effectiveness.

The program has been pilot tested on 24 swine farms in Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri and North Carolina. Using the results of the pilot phase, the development team, along with Tetra Tech EMI, will refine the assessment process to ensure all appropriate air and water quality management issues are addressed in the final assessment template. An additional module is under development to provide a pre-construction assessment of a proposed building site and its odor and environmental management plans. The project is scheduled to be available through state producer associations outside the pilot states beginning in March 1998.

NPPC is committed to this program and others that will help producers implement a systems approach to environmental management. Participation in this and other programs is vital to increasing the professionalism of our environmental management. These programs are important tools that our industry must use to achieve and maintain the level of performance in environmental management that producers have come to expect in many other facets of their operations.

I'm very optimistic our industry can meet our environmental challenges. Pork producers are noted for being forward thinking and extremely motivated individuals. Success on the environmental issue will require both of these traits. Pork producers have been in the forefront in the animal industry with providing environmentally responsible leadership for several years. This is just one more effort to address our environmental responsibilities.

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