Alert: Your Prompt Attention is Needed
The Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection recently released new Technical Standards to verify depth to bedrock in the areas of the state currently being regulated under NR 151. These area’s include the 15 counties on the east side of Wisconsin which consist of silurian dolomite. Unfortunately, under Governor Ever’s “Year of Clean Water” initiative released last year, a new scope statement for NR 151 was opened and additional regulations for dairy operations across the entire state may be required
Why is this important to you?
If you are currently regulated under NR 151, or may be regulated in the future (reduced manure application rates), and you dispute the footage of the depth to bedrock in your field, this verification standard will be used to determine what depth is used in the DATCP site assessment for regulation. For example, if the maps being used by DATCP show you have a depth to bedrock of 5’ and you believe it's greater, you will have to use the methods and references highlighted in this report to prove it...or you will have to decrease your manure application rates.
We have concerns with the costs, time, workability and practicability of these new standards, and are striving to work with DATCP to fix these overly burdensome requirements. However, we need your help and input from your agronomist so we can understand how these proposed standards will impact your farm and issue public comments accordingly.
Specifically:
How many acres do you have that fall in the "under 20 feet to bedrock" category?
According to their maps, how accurate do you believe them to be...how many acres would you need to dispute?
How much would it cost your farm to dispute these acres using the approved methods in the report?