Thanks to Pennsylvania’s new cost share program, streams like the one that flows through our Gettysburg farm are cleaner and healthier.
With an eye on the environment, on our farm we have planted cover crops and no-tilled 550 acres to grow corn, soybeans, wheat and hay for quite some time.
As a fourth-generation farmer, I can say that it has done wonders for soil health and created a beneficial foundation for future practices.
My father Don Miller, and I first wanted to add manure storage back in 2017 to contain litter produced by flocks of 7,500 turkeys that cycle through our farm. But we could not afford such a big project, and other expenses came first.
Then we found out about a new opportunity for support from the Commonwealth that benefits farms like ours and local waterways.
Governor Josh Shapiro’s budget proposal for 2025-26 includes $50 million for the Clean Streams Fund (CSF), which invests in the Agriculture Conservation Assistance Program (ACAP).
More farmers deserve the opportunity to access the ACAP, so they can afford to take action that reduces pollution like we did to protect Rock Creek.
The program is a solution to agriculture’s clean water challenges. It needs long-term, increased investments.
We learned about the ACAP cost-share in 2023 from the Adams County Conservation District, whose support has been amazing.
Today, our new, covered, concrete facility is about 2,900 square feet and stands where turkey manure used to be piled up. In addition to dry poultry litter, there is a small section for compost, and manure from our cow-calf operation.
With the storage, we can spread the fertilizer on fields only when necessary. When it rains, it prevents polluted runoff from turkey manure washing into Rock Creek, just a stone’s throw away.
ACAP funding covered 90 percent of the $136,775 cost of our storage project.
With help from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) we added a buffer of 1,400 native trees and shrubs along a tributary to Rock Creek.
We received $20,000 in buffer bonus funds from CBF, which covered the remaining balance of the manure storage.
Trees are cost-effective tools for cleaning and protecting waterways. They filter and absorb polluted runoff, stabilize streambanks, and improve soil quality.
Trees also help address climate change by cooling the air and sequestering carbon.
The Clean Streams Fund addresses the top three sources of pollution to our rivers and streams: nutrient and sediment loss from farmland, acidic mine drainage, and urban and suburban stormwater runoff.
Clean Streams money allocated for ACAP is distributed to conservation districts, which make local decisions on qualifying projects.
As of this past February, $141 million was committed to 66 county conservation districts and Philadelphia. About $109 million was spent and committed to 1,227 projects.
In Adams County, over $3 million was allocated to more than 20 farmers. Collectively, the benefits of these projects could be a turning point.
Over 28,000 miles of Pennsylvania’s rivers and streams have been damaged by pollution and agriculture is the leading source of water impairment.
Water is a vital life-source for us all and improving it should be a priority for everybody.
It’s important that we as farmers enhance the land and environment within our care.
There are a lot of things we could do, if money and time were no object. But the reality is, we need Pennsylvania’s support.
Without ACAP, our manure storage would not have been possible.
Legislative support for $50 million as proposed for the 2025 to 2026 budget will allow farmers to take necessary action for better waters in Pennsylvania and downstream to the Chesapeake Bay.
Here at home, ACAP is good for local and outdoor economies, protects public health, and secures a stronger future for Pennsylvania.
When we can make decisions to add an environmentally-friendly practice on our farms, it benefits the whole picture.
One day, I hope a fifth generation will be farming our land here in Adams County.
I want to leave them a productive and sustainable farm, healthier soils, and cleaner water. ACAP is helping me do that.
Becky Nas is a fourth-generation farmer caring for land that has been in her family for more than 80 years.
For more on Chesapeake Bay-related issues in Pennsylvania, visit the Chesapeake Bay Foundation-PA webpage. Click Here to sign up for Pennsylvania updates (bottom of left column). Click Here to support their work.
Also visit the Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership to learn how you can help clean water grow on trees.
CBF has over 275,000 members in Bay Watershed.
How Clean Is Your Stream?
The draft 2024 report has an interactive report viewer that allows you to zoom in to your own address to see if the streams near you are impaired and why.
Click Here to check out your streams. Click Here for a tutorial on using the viewer.
Related Articles:
-- DEP Healthy Waters Chesapeake Bay News: Bay Awareness Week; More County Projects; Funding, Technical Assistance
-- Guest Essay: Agriculture Conservation Assistance Program Making Clean Water Possible On A Gettysburg Farm And Across Pennsylvania - By Becky Nas, 4th Generation Farmer [PaEN]
-- Natural Lands: 11,020 Native Trees Planted At Peacedale Preserve In Chester County Reforestation Effort [PaEN]
-- Request Native Trees Now For Fall Planting Thru PA Interfaith Power & Light, Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership [PaEN]
-- Penn State: 18% Of Private Wells Sampled Have PFAS 'Forever Chemicals' Levels Beyond Drinking Water Standards; July 2 PFAS Webinar [PaEN]
-- Penn State Extension July 16 Webinar On Keys To Water Wellhead Protection, 1:00 p.m.
-- Penn State Extension: Importance Of Manure Application Setbacks For Protecting Private Drinking Water
-- Susquehanna River Basin Commission Approved 38 Shale Gas Well Pad Water Use General Permits In May; 225 In 2025 [PaEN]
NewsClips:
-- The Allegheny Front - Reid Frazier: Ohio River Restoration Plan Hopes To Rally Federal Support For Watershed
-- Post-Gazette Editorial: Ohio River Basin, Essential To America’s Economy And Environment, Needs More Attention From Washington
-- TribLive: Study: ‘Forever Chemicals’ Detected In 65% Of Sampled Private Wells; 18% Had Levels Beyond Standards
-- Carlisle Sentinel: Study: ‘Forever Chemicals’ Detected In 65% Of Sampled Private Wells; 18% Had Levels Beyond Standards
-- WVIA: Lackawanna County Wastewater Treatment Plant Takes A Proactive Approach To PFAS ‘Forever Chemicals’
-- Inquirer - Frank Kummer: Penn State Hit With $27 Million Cut In Climate-Smart Farming Grant, Will Reapply
[Posted: June 21, 2025] PA Environment Digest
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