Code of Vermont Rules › Agency 20 - DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, FOOD AND MARKETS › Sub-Agency 011 - DEVELOPMENT DIVISION › Chapter 012 - MEDIUM AND SMALL FARM OPERATION RULES FOR ISSUANCE OF GENERAL AND INDIVIDUAL PERMITS › Section 20 011 012 - MEDIUM AND SMALL FARM OPERATION RULES FOR ISSUANCE OF GENERAL AND INDIVIDUAL PERMITS

Current through June, 2024
SUBCHAPTER
			 I Authority
These Rules are adopted under the express authority
				of 6 V.S.A. chapter 215 subchapter 5 section 4858 and under 6 V.S.A.
				subchapter 1(a)(10). The Secretary is authorized to adopt rules under
				3 V.S.A. chapter 25, for the implementation of the provisions of 6
				V.S.A. chapter 215 subchapter 5.
Related statutes include 6 V.S.A. chapter 215
				subchapter 5 sections: 4856 regarding recycling animal waste
				nutrients; 4857 regarding definitions; 4858 regarding animal waste
				permits; 4859 regarding public notice and hearings; 4860 regarding
				revocation and enforcement; and, 4861 regarding appeals.
SUBCHAPTER II
			 Declaration of Purpose
These Rules establish procedures for administration,
				public notice and hearing, comment, enforcement, transition,
				revocation and appeals, as well as standards for the issuance of a
				Medium Farm Operation (MFO) General Permit, including conditions,
				procedures, and standards for the issuance of Individual Permits for
				MFOs as may be required under certain circumstances.
The General Permit will be designed to ensure that
				medium farms generating animal waste comply with Vermont's water
				quality standards. Unless otherwise given notice by the Agency, all
				medium farms in Vermont are required to operate under the coverage
				and conditions of the General Permit.
The MFO general permitting program is designed to
				achieve the purpose of 6 V.S.A. chapter 215 subchapter 5. The Vermont
				Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets intends that these Rules will
				establish a process for the issuance of a General Permit that will
				cause a Vermont MFO operator to manage a medium farm in a manner
				which achieves at least an equivalent technical standard as required
				by federal regulations.
SUBCHAPTER III Definitions
25-year 24-hour Rainfall Event: means the maximum
				24-hour precipitation event with a probable recurrence interval of
				once every 25 years, as defined by the National Weather Service in
				Technical Paper Number 40, "Rainfall Frequency Atlas of the United
				States", May 1961 and subsequent amendments, or equivalent regional
				or state rainfall probability information developed therefrom.
AAPs: means the Vermont Accepted Agricultural
				Practice Regulations adopted pursuant to 6 V.S.A. Chapter 215.
AFO: means an animal feeding operation.
Animal Feeding Operation: means a lot or facility
				which has animals (other than aquatic animals) that have been, are,
				or will be stabled or confined and fed or maintained for a total of
				45 days or more in any 12 month period, and crops, vegetation, forage
				growth, or post-harvest residues are not sustained in the normal
				growing season over any portion of the lot or facility where animals
				are confined.
Two or more individual farms qualifying as an AFO
				which are under common ownership and which adjoin each other or use a
				common area or system for the disposal of animal waste, shall be
				considered to be a single AFO if the combined number of livestock or
				domestic fowl resulting qualifies as a medium farm as defined
				herein.
Agency: means the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food
				and Markets.
Animal Type: means livestock or domestic fowl
				type.
Certified Nutrient Management Planner: means an
				individual certified through the completion of the USDA/NRCS nutrient
				management certification process who creates, reviews, and modifies
				NMPs.
Conservation Practice: means a specific treatment
				used to address specific natural resources needs and can be
				structural, vegetative, or land management.
Cropland: means land devoted to row crop, perennial
				production, or pasture production.
Dirty Water: means precipitation or other water which
				has moved in, over or through a barnyard, manure, or other nutrient
				or pathogen laden matter, so that they have become co-mingled.
Discharge: means the placing, depositing, or emission
				of waste directly into surface water.
Domestic Fowl: means laying-hens, broilers, ducks,
				and turkeys.
Existing MFO: means an AFO meeting the definition of
				a MFO at the time the General Permit is issued.
Groundwater: means water below the land surface in a
				zone of saturation, but does not include surface waters.
Land Application Area: means land under the control
				of an AFO owner or operator, whether it is owned, rented, or leased,
				to which wastes from the production area is or may be applied.
Livestock: means cattle, swine, sheep, horses, or
				other animal types as deemed by the Secretary.
MFO: means a Medium Farm Operation.
Medium Farm Operation: means an AFO which
				houses:
(i) 200 to 699
			 mature dairy cows, whether milked or dry;
(ii) 300 to 999 youngstock or
			 heifers;
(iii) 300 to 999
			 veal calves;
(iv) 300 to
			 999 cattle or cow/calf pairs;
(v) 750 to 2,499 swine weighing
			 over 55 pounds;
(vi) 3000
			 to 9,999 swine weighing less than 55 pounds;
(vii) 150 to 499 horses;
(viii) 3,000 to 9,999 sheep or
			 lambs;
(ix) 16,500 to
			 54,999 turkeys;
(x) 9,000
			 to 29,999 laying hens or broilers with a liquid manure
			 system;
(xi) 25,000 to
			 81,999 laying hens without a liquid manure handling system;
(xii) 1,500 to 4,999 ducks with a
			 liquid manure handling system;
(xiii) 10,000 to 29,999 ducks
			 without a liquid manure handling system; or,
(xiv) any other animal type and
			 number that the Secretary may deem
New MFO: means an AFO meeting the definition of a MFO
				after the General Permit is issued.
NRCS: means United States Department of Agriculture
				(USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Nutrient Management: means managing the amount, form,
				placement, and timing of plant nutrient applications to obtain
				optimum forage and crop yields, minimize the entry of nutrients into
				waters of the state and groundwater, and optimize economic use of
				nutrients generated on and off the farm.
Nutrient Management Plan: means the system by which
				animal waste generation, storage, and use is handled for the purpose
				of obtaining optimum forage and crop yields including the relating
				management aspects of fertilizer nutrients, conservation practices,
				animal mortalities, clean water, chemical handling, waste and soil
				testing, and record keeping.
NMP: means nutrient management plan.
Pasture: means a confined area of perennial
				vegetation used for the grazing and confinement of animals.
Permit Decision: means a decision by the Secretary to
				issue a General Permit or permits, to issue a subsequent General
				Permit or permits, or to require a small farm to obtain an Individual
				Animal Waste Permit in order to continue in operation.
Permittee: means a person or business that has
				received a MFO General or Individual Permit.
Person: means:
(a) an individual, partnership,
			 corporation, association, unincorporated organization, trust or other
			 legal or commercial entity, including a joint venture or affiliated
			 ownership; or
(b) a
			 municipality or state agency; or
(c) individuals and entities
			 affiliated with each other for profit, consideration or any other
			 beneficial interest derived from agricultural land management.
Person Aggrieved: means a person who alleges an
				injury to a particularized interest where the injury is attributable
				to an act or decision by the Secretary under subchapter 5 of chapter
				215 of title 6 and the injury can be redressed by the environmental
				court or the Supreme Court.
Production Area: means those parts of a MFO that
				includes the animal confinement area, the manure storage area, the
				raw materials storage area, and the waste containment areas. Also
				included in the definition of production area is any egg washing or
				egg processing facility, and any area used in the storage, handling,
				treatment, or disposal of mortalities.
Ruling: means a determination by the Secretary, after
				notice and an opportunity to be heard by a medium farm, that a medium
				farm is required to apply for and to obtain an Individual Animal
				Waste Permit in order to continue in operation, or a determination by
				the Secretary to deny an application by a medium farm for coverage
				under an Individual Animal Waste Permit.
Secretary: means the Secretary of the Agency of
				Agriculture, Food & Markets.
Small Farm Operation: means an AFO which houses no
				more than 199 mature dairy animals, 299 youngstock or heifers, 299
				cattle or cow/calf pairs, 749 swine weighing over 55 pounds, 2,999
				swine weighing less than 55 pounds, 149 horses, 2,999 sheep or lambs,
				16,499 turkeys, 8,999 laying hens or broilers with a liquid manure
				handling system, 24,999 laying hens without a liquid manure handling
				system, 37,499 chickens other than laying hens without a liquid
				manure handling system, or 9,999 ducks without a liquid manure
				handling system.
Vermont Water Quality Standards: means the standards
				and criteria adopted by the Vermont Water Resources Board, pursuant
				to 10 V.S.A. Chapter 47 section 1252(e).
Waste: means, for the purposes of these Rules,
				spoiled feed, manure, milkhouse waste, washwater, leachate, used
				bedding, carcasses, barnyard runoff, or other dirty water.
Waste Management System: means an on-farm waste
				management program and conservation practices which include, but are
				not limited to, a combination of:
1. an adequately sized waste
			 storage facility, field stacking, composting, leachate control
			 system, and milkhouse waste system;
2. contracts which transfer the
			 ownership of wastes generated at a production area to another party
			 for management in a manner determined by the Secretary;
			 and/or,
3. a nutrient
			 management plan (NMP) for all wastes to be applied in compliance with
			 these Rules.
Waste Storage Facility: means an impoundment made for
				the purpose of storing agricultural waste by constructing an
				embankment, excavating a pit or dugout, fabricating an in-ground or
				above-ground structure, or any combination thereof.
Waters of the State: means, for the purpose of these
				Rules, all rivers, streams, creeks, brooks, reservoirs, ponds, lakes,
				springs, and all bodies of surface waters, artificial or natural,
				which are contained within, flow through or border the State or any
				portion of it.