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143 Chemicals The following county(ies) submitted all or part of current policy.

Arkansas, Cross, Jackson 1.

We request the state Plant Board allow use of ground rigs to spray 2, 4-D outside of a cotton buffer zone throughout the entire rice growing season.

-- Craighead

2.

Resistant pigweeds are a major problem in row crops. We support and recommend the certification of hooded sprayers by the State Plant Board to allow farmers to spray the new formulation 2, 4-D on rice levees.

-- Mississippi

147 Refuse, manure & litter management 1.

We support the expansion of the Discovery Farms Program in the state.

-- Mississippi

2.

We oppose any regulation to make Southeast Arkansas a surplus area for the application of chicken litter since approximately 80 percent of the litter is transferred out of this area.

-- Cleveland

3.

Farmers and ranchers that use poultry litter as a means of fertilizer in Eastern and Southern Arkansas do not need that area of state designated a nutrient surplus area, as is the case in Northwest Arkansas. There is no sound evidence that support an excessive use or runoff problems associated with farmers and ranchers in the region and will cause hardships on the poultry farmers and others that use the product.

-- Lincoln

4.

Storm Water Prevention Plans: We recommend that some common sense BMP’s be developed to deal with potential nutrient runoff from production areas.

-- Washington

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150 Pollution Control & Ecology (PC&E) Commission & Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) 1.

We recommend that regulators such as ADEQ take a more moderate approach to enforcing regulations. Compliance with regulations can be costly to local governments. That cost is then passed on to local citizens through fees and taxes in order to be compliant. This will be more and more important if anticipated new regulations regarding solid waste are enacted.

-- Polk

2.

We support removing all funding for ADEQ. -- Crawford

152 Water The following county(ies) submitted all or part of current policy.

Arkansas, Cross, Jackson (2) 1.

We encourage all those involved in agriculture to have a voice in the formation of the State Water Plan. This plan is going to effect both surface and subsurface waters in the state.

-- Prairie

2.

We support the farmer's rights of the current water plan and seek to implement Farm Bureau policy in the new water plan.

-- White

3.

As the state develops a new water plan, we encourage an open discussion among current and future users.

-- Randolph

4.

We oppose the regulation of groundwater until affordable surface water is available.

-- Clay

5.

We support the study of developing ways to aquifer replenishment from state rivers and streams.

-- Greene

6.

We realize that water for human consumption must receive first priority.

Agricultural must have the second priority when it comes to water use. The agricultural industry must be assured of positions on the ANRC that would include all regions of Arkansas agriculture.

-- Mississippi

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7.

We support legislation that: 1. Requires local governments to adopt or amend local ordinances to uniformly restrict outdoor water use for landscapes.

2. Contains exemptions for the businesses and water uses listed below: a. Commercial agriculture and horticulture operations. b. Turf on athletic fields, golf courses and other public recreation areas. c. Turf being planted and established through hydro-seeding techniques. d. Newly installed plants, seed or turf during a 180 day establishment period after initial planting date. e. Landscape plantings required by local ordinance or zoning. f. Personal food gardens. g. Community gardens. h. Drip and socker hose irrigation. i. Hand watering with a hose that has an automatic cutoff nozzle or with hand held containers, and j. Irrigation system installation, repair and calibration.

3. Promotes water conservation.

-- Crawford

8.

State Water Plan (look into legislation of the ANRC committee): We oppose the Conservation District Fiscal Assessment and Accountability Act. We support: 1. All existing conservation districts and current accountability protocol that is in place.

2. Increased funding for districts that have shown to be responsible in the past accountability reports.

3. Funding to districts in financial distress to help maintain any assets purchased and used by and for the district.

-- Lee

9.

We oppose the closing of local soil conservation offices, as this would be detrimental to the protection of the local landowners.

-- Miller

10.

We support legislation requiring at least one member of the state water board be actively involved in agriculture.

-- Perry

11.

Watershed management boards should have agriculture representation from persons within the water supply's watershed.

-- Scott

12.

We believe that water boards should be comprised of landowners in the watershed area along with customers of the water department.

-- Sebastian

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13.

We support the protection of the water resources in the White River and Cache River Basin.

-- Woodruff

171 Littering 1.

We believe that if a material can be recycled, a national center and/or local center needs to be established so that all materials can be conveniently picked up for recycling.

-- Cross

2.

We recommend that a countywide “cleanup day” be organized one to two times each year. This should include the removal of discarded tires, weeds, trash and other unsightly debris. An incentive to participate should be free dumping at land fills, free pick ups at designated points plus transporting to land fills. Penalties should be assessed (if possible) for unsightly property.

-- Mississippi

N-236 Environmental Management Systems 1.

We recommend that American Farm Bureau closely monitor the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) project. The future analysis of data collected by this project is likely to influence future environmental regulations.

American Farm Bureau should work to ensure that data is collected and analyses are fair to U.S. agriculture.

-- Craighead

N-240 Sustainable Agriculture 1.

Agriculture farmers have the responsibility to provide food, fiber, fuel and other basic needs of life for an ever growing world. Lawmakers and other government officials must be mindful that agriculture must be sustainable.

-- Mississippi

2.

We support efforts to increase sustainable small family farm members in the production of food and fiber for local communities across the nation.

-- Union

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N-336 Agricultural Chemicals The following county(ies) submitted all or part of current policy.

Arkansas N-338 Fertilizer 1.

Fertilizer prices seems to have little relationship to the cost of producing fertilizer.

Natural gas prices were low but demand for nitrogen was high. We support an investigation into the manipulation of fertilizer prices.

-- Mississippi

2.

We support a feasibility study for possible price fixing/manipulation by fertilizer production plants in the United States.

-- Mississippi

3.

Environmental regulations and permitting policies should be eased to allow fertilizer production to increase.

-- Prairie

N-501 Aboveground Fuel Storage Tanks 1.

We support H.R. 3158, The Farmers Undertake Environmental Land Stewardship Act, which will modify the EPA's Oil Spill Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) reducing unnecessary burden on farmers and ranchers.

-- Randolph

2.

We support legislation exempting agricultural operation from current Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) rules.

-- Arkansas

N-502 Clean Air 1.

We oppose further restriction and involvement of the EPA on irrigation engines.

-- Lawrence

2.

We oppose any changes in the National Ambient Air Quality Standards as it relates to American farm production.

-- Union

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N-504 Environmental Protection & Regulations The following county(ies) submitted all or part of current policy.

Lawrence, Polk 1.

We oppose the EPA's authority to set federal nutrient limits on phosphorus and nitrogen in specific states. This authority should be governed by individual states.

-- Mississippi

2.

We support removing all funding for EPA. -- Carroll, Crawford

N-545 Floodplain Management 1.

We oppose any form of mandatory national flood Insurance.

-- Cross

N-546 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Authority 1.

We encourage the Army Corp of Engineers to operate the dams and flow of the various Arkansas rivers and basins to control the flow of water as it was originally designed and intended to operate as flood control structures.

-- Jackson

N-547 Water Quality The following county(ies) submitted all or part of current policy.

Jackson 1.

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We support farmers being allowed to participate in the planning and organization of the Water Quality Management Planning Program.

-- Craighead

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N-548 Water Use

1.

We recommend any acreage converted to reservoir for the purpose of irrigation of crop land that was eligible for acreage conservation reserve when converted to reservoir, continue to be eligible for Acreage Conservation Reserve (ACR) and any reservoir that combines a water recovery system be considered eligible for a 2-to-1 acreage conservation reserve credit.

-- Craighead