Connecticut General Statutes 22a-354m – Farm resources management plans. Regulations
(a) The Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection may, in accordance with regulations adopted pursuant to subsection (d) of this section, require any person engaged in agriculture on land located within an aquifer protection area and whose annual gross sales from agricultural products during the preceding calendar year were two thousand five hundred dollars or more to submit a farm resources management plan.
Terms Used In Connecticut General Statutes 22a-354m
- commissioner: means the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection or his or her designated agent. See Connecticut General Statutes 22a-2
- farm: includes farm buildings, and accessory buildings thereto, nurseries, orchards, ranges, greenhouses, hoophouses and other temporary structures or other structures used primarily for the raising and, as an incident to ordinary farming operations, the sale of agricultural or horticultural commodities. See Connecticut General Statutes 1-1
- person: means any individual, firm, partnership, association, syndicate, company, trust, corporation, nonstock corporation, limited liability company, municipality, agency or political or administrative subdivision of the state, or other legal entity of any kind. See Connecticut General Statutes 22a-2
(b) The soil and water conservation district where the aquifer protection area is located shall establish and coordinate a technical team to develop each plan. Such team shall include a representative of the municipality in which the land is located and a representative of any affected water company upon request of such municipality or water company. For the purposes of developing the plan required pursuant to this section, if a farm is located in two or more soil and water conservation districts, the district in which the greater part of such farm is located shall be deemed to be the district in which the entire farm is located. In developing a plan, a district shall consult with the Commissioners of Energy and Environmental Protection and Agriculture, the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at The University of Connecticut, the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, the Soil Conservation Service, the state Agricultural and Conservation Committee and any other person or agency the district deems appropriate.
(c) The plan shall include a schedule for implementation and shall be periodically updated as required by the commissioner. In developing a schedule for implementation, the technical team shall consider technical and economic factors including, but not limited to, the availability of state and federal funds. Any person engaged in agriculture in substantial compliance with a plan approved under this section shall be exempt from regulations adopted under § 22a-354o by a municipality in which the land is located. No plan shall be required to be submitted to the commissioner before July 1, 1992, or six months after completion of level B mapping where the farm is located, whichever is later.
(d) The Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection, in consultation with the Commissioner of Agriculture, the United States Soil Conservation Service, the Cooperative Extension Service at The University of Connecticut and the Council for Soil and Water Conservation may publish notice of intent to adopt regulations in accordance with chapter 54 for farm resources management plans. Such regulations may include, but not be limited to, a priority system and procedures for determining if a farm management plan is required and the priority that is assigned to the preparation of such a plan, best management practices, restrictions and prohibitions for manure management, storage and handling of pesticides, reduced use of pesticides through pest management practices, integrated pest management, fertilizer management and underground and above-ground storage tanks and criteria and procedures for submission and review of farm resources management plans and amendments of such plans. In adopting such best management practices, restrictions and prohibitions, the commissioner shall consider existing state and federal guidelines or regulations affecting aquifers and agricultural resources management.