Agricultural Interaction

Overview

Agricultural development transforms the natural terrain, permanently changing how species in the area are able to interact with their environment.  Clear-cutting forests to create suitable land for agriculture is among the biggest threat to habitat loss.  Furthermore, unsustainable agricultural practices after establishment of agricultural land further degrades the surrounding habitat through intensive cultivation, the use of chemical pesticides and herbicides, and runoff.  Areas of high agricultural output tend to have the highest extent of habitat destruction. Specifically to Vermont, the agricultural boom of the 1800s has been affecting species populations ever since––especially birds––with grassland birds declining as a result of this habitat loss. Habitat loss has also come from forest succession due to farm abandonment and changes in current agriculture practices.  Threats are even greater now with the increased use of pesticides and other fertilizers.

-Andrew
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Effects of Agricultural Development on Habitat in VT

It's surprisingly difficult to find online information related to the effects of agricultural development in Vermont, despite how agriculturally-dependent the state is.  However, I ran across a blog by ecologist, writer, and photographer George Wuerthner, who has done some research into Vermont's habitat, specifically related to agriculture.  He identifies how agriculture is the most destructive human activity for the environment, with Vermont having 400,000 acres of land converted to monocrops (such as alfalfa and corn), and this destroys and fragments wildlife habitat by replacing native communities with land of extremely low biodiversity (via the monoculture).  He says that, despite this, farming continues to grow in Vermont because the farming movement in Vermont started so long ago, we now consider it convention.  While some wildlife species, such as whitetail, actually flourish in these agriculturally developed conditions, many species––including native amphibians, birds that require interior forest, and mammals such as fisher and bear––greatly suffer from the development of native land into agricultural fields.  

Along with this, Wuerthner identifies the extent of pesticide usage in many of these Vermont farms, which contribute to the destruction of habitat.  He says that over 70% of the runoff from the Missisquoi watershed is estimated to be from agricultural operations, and this contributes greatly to soil erosion and sedimentation in streams, and that, in turn, changes the stream pH, increases eutrophication, and ultimately creates an unsuitable habitat for many of the aquatic species in Vermont streams.  

He goes on to identify why these causes are often ignored by farmers, explaining how none of these negative impacts––loss of wildlife habitat, water pollution, and soil erosion––are not included in the economic evaluations of farming.  However, once put in place, the destructive forces of agriculture are then seen and are either transferred to the land that is degraded (e.g. Lake Champlain) or to taxpayers, who then have to pay fees for restoring this degradation of habitat.  Wuerthner states that if these negative environmental costs were included in the cost-benefit analysis of farming in Vermont, almost all farming would turn out to be negative.  

For more information go to: http://gwuerthner.blogspot.com/

-Andrew

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Visit to Shelburne Farms VT

I visited Shelburne Farms in Shelburne, Vermont.  It is among the most well-known farms in Vermont, particularly known for its sustainable practices.  Among arriving at the farm, I first noticed how large it was.  This picture I took partially displays how large the landscape is, with over 1,400 acres of farmland:

However, you'll notice that among this farmland, there is a variety of trees––from native sugar maple, American elm, white pine, and hemlock to a few non-native species such as buckthorn––and tall, unmowed grasses and clovers.  They actually use rotational grazing instead of mowing to keep the grasses this way.  The tour guide claimed that this was specifically for creating greater biodiversity, as many farms discount the limited biodiversity that farmland brings.

While there are certainly a large number of cows at this farm (as it is primarily a dairy farm), the increased biodiversity attracts some non-domestic species, especially birds.  

This is the only photo I took that shows a bird––the black dot in the distance––but trust me, there were a fair share of birds flying around.  The tour guide discussed how the farm created a habitat particularly for migratory birds.  While many farms destroy such habitats in clearing forests for farmland, Shelburne Farms is attempting to recreate this habitat for these migratory bird species.  You'll even notice wholly wooded areas sectioned off specifically to create habitat for wildlife species.  By planting these hundreds of thousands of trees of a wide variety, architectural planner of the farm Frederick Olmsted converted the farm from an unnatural landscape to a natural one, consistent with ecosystem structures.


However, this wildlife must still be managed.  As I had mentioned earlier, farmland can actually alter the habitat to be beneficial for whitetail deer.  In Shelburne farms, these deer are highly abundant, and almost too abundant at times.  Shelburne farms, therefore, hosts deer hunts to attempt to (1) bring together the surrounding community and (2) to help manage the deer populations before they become overabundant.

Another thing I noticed was Lake Champlain in the near distance.  Knowing how large of a problem runoff is to aquatic habitats, I was certainly curious about the policies of such an environmentally-responsible farm involving such an important water body.  While they don't use synthetic pesticides or fertilizers, runoff from manure is still a large issue, but the farm is implementing many steps to minimize runoff.  They are creating a wetland system to treat runoff before it reaches the lake and establishing a buffer system to remove much of the sediment via vegetation.  

It is clear that Shelburne Farms has taken the environmental impact of farming into consideration and is attempting to create a sustainable habitat.  While this is not the usual of large-scale farms, it is a step in the right direction for farming as a whole in terms of their effects on habitat.

-Andrew
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Prevention Practices

In talking of Lake Champlain and farm runoff, I ran into some legislation already put into place in Vermont in attempts to prevent this eutrophication of water bodies, as it is a leading problem in aquatic habitat destruction, along with terrestrial habitat destruction from farming practices.  Over the years agricultural practices in Vermont have received a lot of blame specifically for polluting Lake Champlain, so in 2006, the Agency of Agriculture identified guidelines for all farmers to follow, creating the Accepted Agricultural Practices of Vermont.  There are seven main guidelines that all farmers must follow (AAP, 2006):

• First, construction that disturbs one or more acres of land must be authorized by the Agency of Natural Resources before construction.  This ensures that forests used excessively for habitat by species are not disturbed
• Second, adjoining surface waters (such as Lake Champlain in Shelburne Farms) are to be buffered from annual crop lands by at least 10 feet of perennial vegetation.  Furthermore, no manure can be applied within vegetative buffers.  This ensures buffering of the runoff sediment before it reaches the water body.
• Third, spread of manure on crop land that is subject to annual overflow from adjacent surface waters must be incorporated within 48 hours.  This ensures that minimal manure sediment is washed out in runoff.
• Fourth, every field that has manure must be soil tested at least once every five years.  This ensures that soil quality is maintained, again being able to hold sediments and prevent runoff.
• Fifth, livestock and manure cannot occur within 50 feet of a private well unless otherwise documented.  
• Sixth, dead animal must be buried at least 150 feet from property lines, wells and surface waters, at least 3 feet above the seasonal high water table, and covered with at least of 24 inches of soil.  This ensures that the nutrients from the decaying animal do not runoff into adjoining water bodies.
• And seventh, the concentration of wastes in groundwater caused by agricultural operations cannot not reach or exceed standards identified by Appendix One of the Groundwater Protection Rule.  This, of course, minimizes the amount of waste in groundwater.

These seven policies ensure that habitat destruction––mainly involving aquatic runoff and eutrophication––is mitigated as much as possible in Vermont agricultural systems.

-Andrew

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Agriculture

Farms play a huge role in the amount of phosphorus that is found in streams, lakes and rivers. Livestock that is found on most farms produce tons of manure each year. Manure contains phosphorus, which promotes the growth of algae blooms when leached into the water. Algae blooms feed on the phosphorus and oxygen in the water, which then depletes the oxygen levels in the water causing aquatic life to move elsewhere to live. Phosphorus loading in lake Champlain can be contributed to inadequate manure management practices from agriculture (Watershed Management Division , 2003). To help with the phosphorus levels in bodies of water different programs have created policies that farms have to follow. One example is the Accepted Agricultural Practices program, which set rules that consist of:

1.       Management of barnyards, manure storage structures and sites to prevent the discharge of manure or other wastes

2.     Standards for manure stacking including buffers to neighbors' wells and prohibitions on manure stacking on land subject to overflow from adjacent waters

3.     A prohibition on manure application between December 15th and April 1st

4.     Buffers of perennial vegetation 10 feet from the top of the streambank on cropland and 25 feet from the top of the bank at points of runoff

Overall, the phosphorus levels in waters such as Lake Champlain has increased with pour farming practices but with new guidelines for farmers to follow we can look to have cleaner healthier water in the future.

-Trevor  

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What is Farm Runoff Doing to the Water? Scientists Wade In.

Recently, Vermont Public Radio published an article directly related to this runoff and destruction of aquatic ecosystems, involving a recent large-scale study.  In this article, Abbie Swanson says agriculture is the nation's leading cause of impaired water quality based on the US EPA.  She says 36 scientists went to study this problem over the summer and created surveys in the midwest of streams, rivers, and other bodies of water.  She says that this was the first time scientists had tested for so many agricultural chemicals across so large of a region.  This study measured even the tiniest amounts of mercury, livestock hormones and pesticides, and their impact on fish, frogs, and the related ecosystems.  Swanson claims that farm runoff has become an even greater problem in 2013 with the Midwest's extremely wet spring.  A water quality specialist, Bob Brtiz, claimed that "anytime you have these heavier rainfalls during the spring, after a drier period when you could have got something put in the field, you're going to see, in most cases, a large amount of runoff," which is obviously a problem for aquatic ecosystems (Swanson, 2013).  Nitrogen and phosphorus (two popular chemicals used in commercial fertilizers) are particularly threatening for creating algal blooms and limiting the amount of dissolved oxygen in the ecosystem.  This is one of many long-term studies now being conducted on agricultural impacts on aquatic ecosystems, and the U.S. Geological Survey plans to duplicate this study in other areas throughout the next few years.  Hopefully this data can then be used towards creating legislation that prevents ecosystem damage from these agricultural practices

-Andrew
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Grassland and Bird Habitat

Many birds rely of grasslands for survival. In Vermont the Henslowe Sparrow and Sedge Wren, which are both, endangered species in Vermont require grassland habitat to survive and reproduce.  But, the majority of Vermont’s grassland habitat, which occurs in the Champlain Valley, is used primarily for agricultural practices. This is causing a steady decline in migratory and grassland bird populations. Since the agricultural boom in the 1800s, populations of grassland birds has had a substantially decline in populations and this is a direct result of habitat loss. The habitat loss has resulted from forest succession due to farming practices such as mowing and plowing fields and the use of pesticides. The North American Bird Conservation Initiative has designated grassland birds as a priority species in Vermont and these Birds play a pivotal role in the grassland ecosystem. For example the help in seed dispersal for grassland plants (Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, 2003).

            To help grassland bird population’s, management guidelines have been designed by the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department to maximize the reproduction success of the grassland nesting birds. The guidelines are:

1.    Delay mowing until July 15 each year to minimize loss of eggs and young. Later mowing may allow for the successful fledging of young from late nesters or re-nesting.
2.    Raise mower blades to six inches or more to avoid crushing any remaining nests or young.
3.    Avoid nighttime mowing to reduce the risk of injuring roosting birds
4.    When not used for high-quality hay, mow fields every 1-3 years. Conversion to cropland will destroy the nesting habitat of grassland birds.
5.    Light to moderate grazing is compatible with most grassland bird species' needs. Consider restricting livestock from fields during nesting season and rotating pastures to provide a varied vegetation structure.

These guide lines are not required to be followed by farmers and it is understood that farms may not be able to follow the guide lines all the time. But if farms apply the guidelines to their farming practices when they can it will help greatly in the reproduction of migratory bird populations and further more help increase the migratory bird population.    

-Trevor
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Works Cited

Accepted Agricultural Practice Regulations (AAP), 6 V.S.A. § 4810 (2006)

Swanson, A. (2013, July 5). What is Farm Runoff Doing to the Water? Scientists Wade In. Vermont Public Radio.            Retrieved from http://digital.vpr.net/post/what-farm-runoff-doing-water-scientists-wade

Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department. (2003). Grassland and bird habitat. Retrieved from http://www.vtfishandwildlife.com/cwp_elem_spec_gbh.cfm

Watershed Management Division (2003). Agriculture. Retrieved from http://www.vtwaterquality.org/erp/htm/agriculture.htm

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About the Authors:

Andrew Gehlot:
I'm currently a sophomore here at UVM, with my hometown being right outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I'm majoring in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology and am planning to concentrate on the wildlife portion of this major. This major is related to my interests in environmentalism, specifically related to habitat loss via human impacts. After graduation I plan to either continue my studies in graduate school or work in wildlife rehabilitation. My main hobby outside of my education is rock climbing, and I'm on the UVM rock climbing team.  


Trevor Madsen:
I am also a sophomore at UVM and studying Wildlife Biology. Growing up in a small town in the back woods of upstate New York I have grown to have a great respect of nature. I have spent most of my child hood outside in the woods hunting, hiking and along river banks fishing. By studying the very animals I have grown up watching and admiring I can help to protect and help manage them for the future.