| "Having them [farmers] adopt voluntary practices and take a leadership role, in reality, is much more effective than heading down a strong regulatory path." | |
| Holly Price, Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary |
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As our nation's farmers are producing everything from the food that we eat to the raw materials that make up many of the products we use every day, fertilizers, pesticides, and sediments can run off fields, impacting estuaries and oceans hundreds of miles downstream. A California National Marine Sanctuary has collaborated with farmers, government officials, and environmentalists to develop an initiative to protect sanctuary waters while sustaining the economic viability of the region's agricultural industry.
"This is going to make a tremendous difference in the long run," says Holly Price, director of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary's Water Quality Protection Program. "This is an example of how a sanctuary can carry the message that protecting the ocean requires the participation of everyone who lives and works in the watershed."
The Agriculture and Rural Lands Plan, which focuses on voluntary conservation practices, was developed over three years by the 25 government, public, and private groups that are partners in the sanctuary's Water Quality Protection Program and the industry-led Farm Bureaus from six counties adjacent to the sanctuary. Price notes the plan includes improving technical assistance, education, funding, and economic incentives for conservation measures, as well as better coordination of the existing regulatory system.
"I think the most unique element of the plan is the commitment from the region's agricultural industry to work through the Central Coast Farm Bureau Coalition to establish a network of landowners to address water quality issues," Price says. "We have 4,000 growers in the area.... It's a real advantage to have that partnership."
Through the Water Quality Protection Program, the sanctuary has developed plans to address urban runoff, marinas and boating activities, and regional monitoring, Price says. When they began looking at agricultural issues, they realized the "agriculture community was not inclined to come to meetings with government agencies. We saw that we needed to go out to their tables."
Price says she began the process of developing the plan by speaking to local and regional industry groups so they could begin "seeing the connection between the land and the sea and coming to know us as people as opposed to a federal agency." Numerous workshops also were held throughout the watershed "scoping the range of polluted runoff problems associated with agriculture, drafting potential solutions, and ranking various recommendations." The industry then worked through these recommendations with the members of the Water Quality Protection Program.
"There was a lot of fear on the part of the agricultural industry that this whole thing might become highly regulatory," Price says. "Having them adopt voluntary practices and take a leadership role, in reality, is much more effective than heading down a strong regulatory path."
The initiative was approved in January, and Price says parts of the plan are beginning to be implemented. "I think after we track it for one to five years, people will see an improvement in water quality."
She adds, "It is tremendously satisfying to see what was sometimes a painful process come to a positive outcome and see it moving ahead. A lot of partners worked hard to bring this to fruition."
For more information on the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary's Agriculture and Rural Lands Plan, point your browser to bonita.mbnms.nos.noaa.gov/Resourcepro/water-pro.html. You may also contact Holly Price at (831) 647-4247 or holly.price@noaa.gov.
