{"id":19960,"date":"2016-03-02T10:54:52","date_gmt":"2016-03-02T15:54:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/?p=19960"},"modified":"2016-03-02T10:54:52","modified_gmt":"2016-03-02T15:54:52","slug":"maryland-agriculture-department-launches-2016-manure-happens-public-education-and-outreach-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2016\/03\/02\/maryland-agriculture-department-launches-2016-manure-happens-public-education-and-outreach-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"Maryland Agriculture Department Launches 2016 \u201cManure Happens\u201d Public Education and Outreach Campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"ANNAPOLIS, MD <\/strong>\u2013 Now that spring is almost here, the Maryland Department of Agriculture has launched a public education campaign to inform citizens about what to expect as farmers begin to prepare their fields for planting. The campaign features a series of educational advertisements that will run in newspapers and on mobile and social media sites during the month of March. The purpose of the outreach effort is to help citizens understand how farmers use manure as a natural fertilizer and soil conditioner along with steps they must take to prevent manure from impacting water quality in local streams, rivers and the Chesapeake Bay.<\/p>\n

\u201cCenturies ago, farmers discovered that manure makes a great fertilizer and soil conditioner,\u201d said Maryland Agriculture Secretary Joe Bartenfelder. \u201cToday, farmers use a wide range of practices to protect local waterways from nutrient runoff, while following the latest environmental rules and guidelines,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Maryland\u2019s new Phosphorus Management Tool (PMT)<\/a> regulations are being phased in over the next several years to help farmers protect waterways from phosphorus runoff. In addition, Maryland\u2019s nutrient management regulations prohibit farmers from spreading manure on their fields in winter. March 1 is the first opportunity for farmers to recycle manure generated over the winter as a crop fertilizer. To further protect water resources, Maryland farmers are required to incorporate or inject manure into the soil within 48 hours.\u00a0 This helps to reduce surface runoff, improve nutrient retention, and for nearby neighbors, cut down on odors\u2014but not completely.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the next several weeks, people who live near farms will begin to notice the unmistakable smell of manure,\u201d said Secretary Bartenfelder. \u201cWe want folks to understand how things work on the farm and to be prepared for slow moving farm machinery on local roads, along with the sights, smells, and sounds of Maryland\u2019s working family farms.\u201d<\/p>\n

The public education ads direct visitors to the department\u2019s centralized \u201cManure Resources\u201d website at mda.maryland.gov\/manure<\/a>.\u00a0 In addition to providing citizens with information on how farmers recycle manure resources, the website offers resources for farmers who currently use chemical fertilizers and are considering making the switch to manure and farmers who sell manure resources as part of their farm\u2019s business model. The page provides links to additional resources available for farmers, including grants, tax credits, technical guidance and scientific research on the benefits of manure as a crop fertilizer and soil amendment. In addition, the website includes links to Maryland\u2019s nutrient management regulations and phosphorus management initiative.<\/p>\n

MDA\u2019s educational advertising campaign includes a series of five ads with different themes.\u00a0 Manure Happens\u2014It\u2019s No Bull<\/a><\/em> explains the facts of life on the farm in no uncertain terms. The Follow Me, Girls<\/a> <\/em>ad describes how Maryland dairy farmers protect waterways while caring for their animals. The Pardon Me<\/a><\/em> ad features a dairy cow in a spring bonnet welcoming the wonderful aroma of spring…and manure. The\u00a0I Recycle<\/a><\/em> ad\u00a0describes how farmers recycle manure resources using the latest environmental practices.\u00a0 The\u00a0Looks Can Be Deceiving<\/a><\/em> ad\u00a0shows a stockpile of poultry litter that has been crusted over to protect against rainwater runoff.\u00a0 All five ads direct readers to the department\u2019s Manure Resources page at mda.maryland.gov\/manure<\/a>.<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ANNAPOLIS, MD \u2013 Now that spring is almost here, the Maryland Department of Agriculture has launched a public education campaign to inform citizens about what to expect as farmers begin to prepare their fields for planting. The campaign features a series of educational advertisements that will run in newspapers and on mobile and social media  Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19960"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19961,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19960\/revisions\/19961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}