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Agriculture
OVERVIEW
A strong agricultural industry is essential to the Nation's economic stability, the viability of many rural communities, and the sustainability of a healthful and high quality food supply for the American public. Agricultural producers are primary stewards of many of our Nation's natural resources, have played a key role in past efforts to improve water quality, and are important partners in implementing improved measures to protect the environment and public health. Voluntary and regulatory programs serve complementary roles in providing agricultural producers with the assistance and certainty they need to achieve individual business and personal goals, and in ensuring protection of water quality and public health. The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program applies to some agricultural producers, particularly operators of larger or higher risk animal feeding operations. For most agricultural producers, however, a variety of voluntary programs provide the technical and financial assistance to help producers meet technical standards and remain economically viable.
Note that the NPDES regulations exclude irrigated agriculture and agricultural stormwater runoff from the universe of entities requiring permit coverage. Discharges from concentrated animal feeding operations, concentrated aquatic animal production facilities, and silviculture, as well as discharges to aquaculture projects are not excluded from permitting requirements.
WHAT CAN I FIND ON THIS WEB SITE?
Click on the links below to find out more information and facts on AFOs, CAFOs, and the
NPDES permitting program for CAFOs.
- CAFO Final Rule - provides information about the Final CAFO Rule including the preamble and text and a general fact sheet on the CAFO Final Rule.
- General Information - provides links to highlighted publications and important AFO/CAFO links.
- Unified National Strategy - provides the text of USDA's and EPA's Unified National Strategy for Animal Feeding Operations and comments regarding the Unified Strategy.
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The documents on this site are best viewed
with Acrobat 6.0 |
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