News & Notes October 2005

Organizations Establish PEACCE in Pennsylvania

Three organizations have recently established PEACCE in Pennsylvania. PEACCE is a new nonprofit corporation formed by the Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts, Inc., Pennsylvania Environmental Council, and The Penn State University to recognize farmers that practice responsible environmental stewardship.

The Pennsylvania Environmental Agricultural Conservation Certification of Excellence (PEACCE) will promote the use of agricultural practices that enhance responsible environmental stewardship and recognize agricultural producers who meet the requirements for certification.

Both the public and farmers will benefit from PEACCE. Pennsylvanians will be able to identify farmers in their communities that practice responsible environmental stewardship and know that these farmers are achieving environmental excellence. Farmers will benefit from better relations with their neighbors, reduced liability, and the ability to be recognized for their efforts to practice agriculture in an environmentally safe manner.

Farmers must successfully complete three program components in order to be certified in environmental excellence by PEACCE. First, farmers must successfully pass an environmental awareness course provided by Penn State University that includes environmental awareness, manure application, odor and emissions, and environmental laws and regulations. Second, farmers must agree to a confidential, comprehensive, and objective on-farm environmental assessment of their operations. This assessment is currently provided free-of-charge by Validus. The assessment report provides low-cost recommendations to reduce an operation's actual or potential impact on the environment, providing ways to address environmental issues found on an operation. The third component is the on-farm evaluation checklist where the county conservation district and extension agent will visit the farm to verify that the farm is in compliance with all pertinent state and federal conservation and environmental laws.

Farmers who become certified by PEACCE will receive a Certificate of Excellence and a sign to display on their farm. Farmers must obtain continuing education and have a follow-up evaluation within three years to maintain their certification.

This effort began five years ago as a pilot project in Lancaster, Chester and Berks counties. Any conservation district in Pennsylvania is welcome to participate in the program and enable farmers in their county to become certified. Currently there are 55 farms in 17 counties that have successfully completed all program components and are certified by PEACCE.

Farmers interested in participating in PEACCE should contact Robb Meinen at Penn State University at (814) 865-2987. Conservation districts that would like more information about how to get involved in the program should contact Susan Marquart at (717) 238-PACD.

NACD Meeting Location Change

The NACD annual meeting originally scheduled for New Orleans in January 2006 has been changed. The Sheraton will not be able to accommodate the meeting due to complications resulting from clean-up and recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina. Although the association was forced to change meeting locations, NACD is pleased to be able to remain in the South Central Region for this year's meeting.

NACD President Bill Wilson said "Although the location change came about under unfortunate circumstances, we're confident that the 2006 Annual Meeting will be a success in Texas. In the next months, many of our folks will be busy planning an action packed, historical meeting in Texas. However, a large number of our people will also remain active in the rebuilding and restoring of our natural resources in the region most affected by Katrina."

The three-day annual meeting will be held January 29-February 2, 2006 in Houston, TX. Conservation leaders from across the nation will now gather in the nation's fourth largest city to celebrate the association's history, discuss current policy and programs and make plans for a stronger future. The meeting will be held at the Hilton Americas-a new property in Houston. NACD negotiated a lower room rate and maintained the same meeting dates and registration costs in spite of the last minute changes. Log onto http://2006.nacdnet.org/ for the latest information.

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