While poultry litter has been attributed as a source of pollution in the Illinois River in Northwest Arkansas and Oklahoma, it isn't regulated outside of that region in Arkansas.
The raising of fowl is increasing outside of Northwest Arkansas, and recent poultry-plant openings in northeast Arkansas have led to concerns about whether the state should be proactive in monitoring poultry litter application elsewhere in the state.
One way to do that is through the use of nutrient management plans. Such plans detail how a farmer will control nutrient sources to protect the soil and state waters, according to the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission. Nutrients are elements such as phosphorus and nitrogren that in excess amounts can harm water bodies and contribute to algal blooms.
Nutrient management plans are required for farmers in portions of 13 Northwest Arkansas counties in the Illinois River watershed, called the Nutrient Surplus Area, according to Miccah Bowen, coordinator of nutrient management planning for the commission.
The plans aren't used to regulate nutrients outside the watershed, but farmers are supposed to adhere to practices outlined within them. Bowen estimated that fewer than half of poultry farmers use such plans.
"We suspect that there will be growth in poultry farms throughout the state," he said. "We are keeping an eye on it so there won't be another water quality issue in the future."
Differences in soil outside of Northwest Arkansas could mean the same amount of poultry litter would have a different effect on water and soil quality, said Karl Vandevender, a professor and engineer at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service.
Row crops are efficient at absorbing nutrients from poultry litter applied as fertilizer, said Sheri Herron, executive soil scientist for BMPs, a nonprofit started by Northwest Arkansas poultry companies that helps coordinate sales of poultry litter outside the area. In Northwest Arkansas, row crops aren't as common as in the rest of Arkansas because the soil isn't as conducive for their growth.
Vandevender estimated that most poultry farmers will end up having nutrient management plans, based on industry trends of what integrators -- such as Tyson or Simmons Foods -- require of their farmers.
The bird capacity reported by farms to the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission has increased statewide from about 226 million in 2004 to 242 million in 2016, according to commission data. In counties within the Nutrient Surplus Area, the increase has been about 1.8 million, or about 1.9 percent. Elsewhere in Arkansas, the number of birds has climbed by 14.3 million, or about 11.3 percent.
"I'm just worried that we've got enormous amounts of these things moving in the Batesville and Pocahontas areas," said Don Richardson, chairman of the commission's board.
In Independence County, where Batesville is located, bird capacity has jumped 14.1 percent since 2004, from 4.2 million to 4.8 million. In Randolph County, where Pocahontas is located, bird capacity has skyrocketed 573 percent, from 954,500 birds to 6.4 million birds.
Richardson supports requiring nutrient management plans statewide. So does Commissioner Jerry Hunton, who has expressed concern that the area-specific regulation is unfair to Northwest Arkansas farmers.
Commissioners voted in 2015 to remove a portion of the draft state Water Plan that would have asked the commission to "encourage" the Legislature to require such plans statewide. Central Arkansas Water and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission supported the language, while the Arkansas Farm Bureau and the Arkansas Association of Conservation Districts opposed it.
A Section on 01/02/2018