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Commentary

Opinion: Composting expansion would benefit the environment — and Maryland’s small farmers

A view of rolling hills in rural Howard County. Stock.adobe.com photo by jonbilous.

By Emily Ranson

The writer is the state director at Clean Water Action, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting our environment, health, economic well-being and community quality of life.

Here in Maryland, you might have noticed our beautiful trees and flowers blooming early this winter. In fact, the region’s National Cherry Blossom Festival has been moved up to accommodate these early blooms. While the colorful flowers certainly brighten and beautify our communities, they also signify a darker reality. This unseasonably warm winter is just the latest development in a string of hot temperatures and extreme weather in the Chesapeake region — impacting all industries relying on our lands and waters. Some farmers, for instance, are acknowledging the challenge and stepping up to support solutions.

Environmentalists and farmers are teaming up to address these issues. It’s not very often in Maryland politics that environmentalists and farmers root for the same policies. But, legislation (House Bill 253/Senate Bill 262) sponsored by Sen. Jason Gallion (R-Harford and Cecil) and Del. Emily Shetty (D-Montgomery) is one of those rare occasions: This bill would expand on-farm food scrap composting, in a win-win climate solution. It will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and sequester carbon in the soil, and provides farmers with a new income stream, healthy soils for growing, and reduced operating costs.

Under current regulations, farmers may use up to 40,000 square feet of space to compost food scraps generated on their farm but, once they accept food scraps from off-site grocery stores, cafeterias, or curbside collection programs, they are limited to just 5,000 square feet. The proposed legislation would double this size to 10,000 square feet for active food scrap composting.

In Maryland, only about 15% of all food waste is recycled through composting or other means. Most people throw food scraps in the trash, where it gets buried in landfills or burned in incinerators — both of which produce greenhouse gases. In incinerators, food and other organic waste are burned, creating carbon dioxide in the process. In landfills, food decomposes without oxygen, producing methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

The most efficient way to reduce these emissions is to divert food scraps from incineration and landfill waste streams by composting them.

Composting offers numerous benefits to farmers. Farms can be paid to take in food scraps from nearby businesses or partner with one of the emerging small companies that pick up food scraps from residences and restaurants. Once scraps are composted, they can use the product as a substitute for synthetic fertilizers, which are both increasingly expensive and harmful to the environment. In recent years synthetic fertilizer prices have skyrocketed. And, for every ton of nitrogen produced for a synthetic fertilizer, four to five tons of carbon are released into the atmosphere.

Farmers are the lifeblood of Maryland’s economy. This bill will help support independent agricultural operations through increased income streams and better-quality compost, and in turn, stronger crops. We need legislation to help farmers expand their composting abilities while also benefitting the environment and soil health and providing farmers with an income source. I hope you will join me in supporting HB253/SB262 for the sake of both our farmers and our environment.

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Opinion: Composting expansion would benefit the environment — and Maryland’s small farmers