(HOST) Commentator Tom Slayton has been following the recent controversy over compost operations, and he thinks it’s really about fundamental values and vision.
(SLAYTON) There’s an inherent contradiction written into farming: in addition to making food and fiber, in Vermont, farming creates the pastoral countryside that everyone loves and that bespeaks peace and beauty. And yet the actual work of farming itself is rugged, often dirty, and sometimes dangerous.
So the farmed countryside often appeals most to people who don’t want to farm and don’t really understand it. Yet farming is real – gritty, messy, and real.
These thoughts came to mind in connection with the current flap over compost-making.
The compost wars are not simple: A Montpelier composting operation has been issued a shut down order by the Natural Resources Board, which it is appealing. Another operation, in the Burlington Intervale, is being run through the regulatory gauntlet. At issue are the legal definition of a farm under Act 250, whether the composting operations are polluting, creating a nuisance for the neighbors, and so forth.
But at the heart of this controversy is a simple question: Is Vermont going to be a farming state – for real – or a suburban theme park? If Vermont is to remain a state where real farming is done, then some way needs to be found to allow compost-makers to operate. They should not be allowed to abuse their neighbors, the environment, or their community. But they should not be summarily shut down, either.
Vermont is quietly entering a new agricultural era, one that sees the connections between land, locally grown food, the human communities nearby, and the health of all of them. Traditional dairying will be a part of this new Vermont agriculture, and so will organic dairies, vegetable growers, beef producers, cheesemakers, grain growers, and more.
It’s a good vision for Vermont: an agricultural future that works.
But it won’t happen without a working infrastructure. And commercial producers of top-quality compost are a vital part of that agricultural infrastructure – whether they are defined as "farms" under Act 250 or not.
If you doubt that, consider the fact that the Central Vermont Food Compost program alone has kept nearly 2,000 tons of food waste out of the landfill since the program began in 2004. And that’s not counting the tons of agricultural wastes – such as manure – being composted and thereby kept out of the waters of the state. Compost manufacturers are providing a vital service.
The Vermont Legislature recognized that fact last winter, when they passed a law exempting Vermont compost manufacturers from Act 250 review for two years. The aim was to gain time to work out a reasonable, orderly way of regulating such operations. Due to a legal technicality, the Vermont Compost Company in Montpelier – the operation that the state ordered shut down– was excluded from the exemption.
That just doesn’t sound right. Seems to me that all composting companies should be treated alike. The Natural Resources Board’s hasty shut-down order should be rescinded.
And a solution that satisfies the needs of Vermont’s environment, satisfies any legitimate complaints of the neighbors – and keeps Vermont’s composting operations in business – should be found. And soon.