County Farm Bureau hosts annual legislative farm tour
MUDDY CREEK TWP — Ongoing efforts to allow whole milk to be served with school lunches, and the possible return of federal regulations on rainwater runoff were the top issues debated at the Butler County Farm Bureau’s annual legislative farm tour.
Friday’s tour was held at family-operated Gardner’s Farm and Greenhouse, which opened a new retail greenhouse on Route 19 two years ago.
Farm bureau members said current regulations that allow only skim or 1% milk to be served in schools were aimed at addressing child obesity, but that problem still exists and lifestyle choices are contributing factors.
The bureau, which is part of the state and national bureau, supports providing whole milk and chocolate milk to schools.
Bureau member Brittany Speer said school cafeterias should have dispensers with different kinds of milk and should give students glasses so they can have as much as they want, instead of the half-pint containers they receive now.
U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-16th, said consumers should be educated about milk and almond milk, which is sold in grocers’ dairy sections along with dairy milk.
“Almond milk is juice,” said William Thiele, a dairy farmer who serves as the county bureau’s government relations director and the state bureau board of director. “Milk comes from lactating animals. Consumers need to be more educated on milk.”
“The hard part is getting the general public informed,” Kelly said.
State Rep. Emily Kinkead, D-20th, of Allegheny County, who serves on the House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, said public education is also needed about the environmental impacts of growing almonds. She said almonds are grown in arid areas where water use is an issue.
Evelyn Minteer, a bureau board member, said commercials about almond milk give misleading information about the product.
State legislation in the form of House Bill 2397 and Senate Bill 1181 would allow school districts to serve whole milk that is produced and processed in the state.
In Congress, resolutions and bills under consideration would increase access in the WIC program to 2% and whole milk, allow whole milk to be offered in schools and prohibit the use of the dairy terms such as milk, cheese and yogurt on the labels of non-dairy products made from nuts, seeds and plants.
Waters of the United States, regulations known as WOTUS, were implemented in 2015, repealed a couple of years later, and are currently being revised, bureau members said.
“A wet weather waterway shouldn’t be considered a navigable waterway. It’s government overreach,” Thiele said.
Kelly said WOTUS is an example of a policy created by people who don’t understand its impacts.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency revised WOTUS in December with an updated version of pre-2015 regulations.
The revision grants the federal government regulatory control over waterways and many land areas that temporarily hold water, and no longer limits EPA jurisdiction to navigable waterways, according to the farm bureau.
Any low spot where rainwater collects, including common farm ditches, ephemeral drainage, agricultural ponds and isolated wetlands found in and near farms would be subject to regulation under WOTUS, according to the bureau.
County commissioner Kimberly Geyer said the state considers rain runoff through normally dry ground between a home construction site and a stream as a tributary.
In other matters, Geyer said more than 7,000 acres on 68 farms in the county have been saved from development through the county’s farmland preservation program, and two more farms are going through the approval process.
She said the program is based on soil quality, and the goal is to protect land with the best soil, which developers also seek.
In addition, Geyer said the county is receiving $2 million over four years from the state through the county conservation district for agricultural projects, but specific criteria on how the money can be spent hasn’t been provided yet.
Following the discussion, Patrick Gardner led the visitors on a tour through the 2-acre greenhouse where his family sells a variety of annuals, perennials, Florida foliage, hanging baskets and porch and patio pots.
He said 95% of the plants sold are grown at the family’s 50-acre farm, which is about a mile away. The greenhouse has a drip system for water plants and an injection system that adds fertilizer to to the drip system.
The plants come from 300,000 to 350,000 unrooted cuttings the farm receives and grows each year, he said.
