By Blake Jackson
Approximately 15 Perdue poultry farms in Pennsylvania will receive a makeover to beautify the area around the barns while helping Chesapeake Bay.
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a $1 million grant to the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, which will work with Perdue Farms to implement "full-farm conservation efforts" at poultry houses in Lancaster and surrounding counties. Perdue will add $300,000 to fund the projects.
The full-farm approach means the projects will focus on improving the environment while meeting the operational and economic needs of each farm.
About 36 conservation practices will be implemented at Perdue farms, including manure stacking and composting sheds, riparian forest buffers, and shelter belts.
The work will improve the farms and help the bay. For example, composting sheds will help to reduce runoff, and riparian forest buffers will help to improve water quality.
The Perdue project is part of the alliance's corporate sustainability initiative. Since 2017, the Alliance has worked with agricultural supply chain corporations such as Turkey Hill Dairy, The Hershey Co., Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative Association, and Land O'Lakes on conservation efforts in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay also received another grant of nearly $647,000 for the implementation and restoration of riparian forest buffers in Maryland and Pennsylvania.
The project will also address conservation needs of farmers and prioritize best management practices that reduce nutrient and sediment pollution runoff. The alliance will contribute another $647,000 in matching funds.
The Chesapeake Bay Program has put $30 million in infrastructure funding toward restoration efforts in the watershed's most effective basins since 2022.
More than half of that funding has gone to agricultural conservation practices to reduce farm runoff. Benefits of the Project
The project will have several benefits, including:
- Beautifying the area around the poultry farms
- Improving water quality in the Chesapeake Bay
- Reducing runoff from the poultry farms
- Protecting the environment
Meeting the operational and economic needs of the poultry farms
Photo Credit: gettyimages-wikoski
Categories: Pennsylvania, Livestock, Poultry