2 minute read
VDACS Update
From Larry M. Nichols – Director, Division of Consumer Protection – Virginia Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services
The Virginia General Assembly amended Virginia’s Commercial Fertilizer Law (Law) in 2020 and the changes to the Law will require additional fertilizer applicators to submit an annual report on the acreage of non-agricultural land to which fertilizer was applied the previous year. The Law currently requires fertilizer applicators who apply fertilizer to more than 100 acres of nonagricultural land during the previous year to report, to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS), the acreage or square footage of non-agricultural land to which fertilizer was applied. The current Law exempts applicators who apply to less than 100 acres per year from the reporting requirement. (The reporting requirement is based on the area which receives fertilizer and does not include multiple applications. Therefore a two acre yard receiving four applications during the year is reported as two acres, not eight acres).
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The amendment to the Commercial Fertilizer Law, which became effective July 1, 2020, reduces the 100-acre reporting threshold to 50 acres. Fertilizer applicators who were previously exempt from the reporting requirement may now have to submit a report as the changes to the Law will require fertilizer applicators who apply fertilizer to more than 50 acres of nonagricultural land per year to submit this annual report. The acreage for the report is based on fertilizer applications made during the calendar year and the report must be submitted to VDACS by February 1 of each year. Information on reporting fertilizer applications to non-agricultural land can be found on the VDACS webpage at:
www.vdacs.virginia.gov/plant-industry-services-turffertilizer-reporting-tool.shtml
Fertilizer applicators applying lawn fertilizer in accordance with provisions of Regulations for the Application of Fertilizer to Nonagricultural Lands are following recommended best management practices for ensuring that excess nitrogen and phosphorus are not being applied to lawn and turf areas. By eliminating excess nitrogen and phosphorus, runoff of these two fertilizer ingredients into Virginia’s waters will be reduced. As Virginia works toward improving the Chesapeake Bay and other Virginia waterways by reducing runoff from a variety of sources, the lawn and turf acreage which is reported to VDACS allows Virginia to receive credit from the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency for taking steps to improve the Chesapeake Bay. While this change to the Law will increase the number of fertilizer applicators who must report to VDACS, it should also result in a corresponding increase in the credit Virginia will receive for reducing fertilizer runoff and meeting the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) requirements for the Chesapeake Bay. Information on the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality’s Chesapeake Bay watershed program can be found on their website at:
www.deq.virginia.gov/Programs/Water/ChesapeakeBay.aspx
Virginia’s Regulations for the Application of Fertilizer to Nonagricultural Lands requires fertilizer applicators who apply fertilizer to nonagricultural lands to be a Certified Fertilizer Applicator and apply fertilizer at rates, times, and methods that are consistent with the standards and criteria of a nutrient management plan. The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Virginia Nutrient Management Standards and Criteria can be found at:
www.dcr.virginia.gov/document/standardsandcriteria.pdf
Information on Virginia’s Certified Fertilizer Applicator program and historical reporting acreage for the past three years can be found on the VDACS website at:
www.vdacs.virginia.gov/plant-industry-services-certified-fertilizer-applicator-training.shtml
The Commercial Fertilizer Law can be found at:
law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title3.2/chapter36
and Regulations for the Application of Fertilizer to Nonagricultural Lands can be found at:
