Local farmers can soon "REAP" the benefits of new Pennsylvania legislation aimed at cleaning up the environment through economic incentives.
More than 100 farmers and business owners turned out Tuesday morning at the Lancaster Farm and Home Center for a forum to discuss the new Resource Enhancement and Protection Act (REAP). State Sen. Gibson Armstrong sponsored the meeting.
REAP is a $10 million program designed to help farmers pay for environmental improvement projects on their property, including the installation of riparian buffers along streams and finding alternative manure treatment practices. Farmers would be awarded tax credits they could use to pay for the projects or sell to businesses.
REAP "fits in so well with the programs we already have," Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Dennis Wolff said at Tuesday's meeting. "It's exciting. It's about allowing our farmers to make significant improvements on their farms."
The REAP program was a last-minute addition to the 2008 budget, taking shape around two months ago.
The State Conservation Commission, which serves as a bridge between the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Environmental Protection, is administering the program.
Department of Agriculture representatives Karl Brown and Mary Bender provided many of the details of the program.
Qualified applicants for REAP may receive between 25 percent and 75 percent of project costs as state tax credits from the Department of Revenue, with an award of up to $150,000 per farming operation.
Farmers are able to participate in REAP through different conditions, including self-implementation of a best management practices plan or working with a sponsor that will help finance a farmer's BMP.
Preference for awards is given to farmers who have a current conservation plan, an agricultural erosion and sedimentation control plan and a nutrient management plan for farms with livestock.
But Bender said farmers who do not have environmental plans already in place may apply for REAP funds to pay for the conservation plans.
Tax credits for 75 percent of eligible costs include conservation plans, BMPs for animal concentration areas, stream bank fencing and 50 feet of forested riparian buffers.
A 50 percent tax credit for eligible costs exists for items such as no-till planting equipment, grassed waterways and manure storage systems.
Bender said applications will be available Dec. 3 through the state's Web site, www.agriculture.state.pa.us, and applications may be turned in starting Jan. 2. The money will be issued on a first-come, first-served basis, Bender said, so it is important to turn in applications as soon as possible.
As many as 75 Lancaster County farmers have already expressed interest in the program, Bender said.
State Sen. Mike Brubaker, who serves as the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said that despite tight budget numbers, legislators were anxious to support the REAP program because of its emphasis on helping to clean up the Chesapeake Bay.
"REAP succeeded because A, it's a good idea; B, it strengthens the environment; and C, it's great for the producers," Brubaker said.
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