Agriculture is the cornerstone of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, socially and economically. In addition, it provides one of the most critical opportunities to address natural resource challenges, especially water quality in Chesapeake Bay and its vital tributaries.

To address the pressing nutrient challenges faced by Lancaster County, CCI at Environmental Defense is implementing a 100% voluntary cooperative project with Lancaster County farmers, agricultural leaders, conservationists and other interested stakeholders. The goal is to improve agricultural nitrogen use efficiency county-wide by 30% or more while maintaining or improving the economic viability of participating farms, in part by solving and therefore removing environmental constraints those operations may currently face. Each participating farm's contribution to the county-wide nitrogen use efficiency goal will vary depending on individual goals and situation. 

For Lancaster County -- which imports more agricultural nutrients than are exported in food and fiber and has more manure nutrients that can be utilized by the county's farmland -- the dominant current approach of addressing challenges on an individual farm-by-farm basis, which produces significant benefits around the country, is unlikely to get the job done on its own. New tools and technologies and more coordinated partnerships are needed. The Lancaster Farms project will take a countywide, multi-partner, and highly coordinated approach to bring Lancaster County into nutrient balance, which is essential if Lancaster, and Pennsylvania, are to meet water quality goals set out in the Chesapeake Bay Agreement Tributary Strategies.

The Lancaster Farms project has four core goals:

1. Develop a performance-based incentives program that encourages and enables both English and Plain Sect farmers to improve on-farm nutrient use efficiency through a wide range of technologies and practices,
   
2. Develop an economically self-sustaining manure brokering program to foster improved use of manure within the county and adjacent counties,
   
3. Develop a county-wide strategy to address the county's surplus nutrients by treating and exporting excess manure for appropriate use, and
   
4. Develop farmer-led discussion groups to foster and enhance the long-term success of nutrient use efficiency and conservation practices. 

In 2004, the project provided spring nitrate soil tests (PSNT) and fall corn stalk nitrate tests (CSNT) and results to 37 farmers, free of charge through a contribution agreement between CCI and the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Pennsylvania.

In 2005, NRCS in Pennsylvania designated the Lancaster Farms project as a special project under the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) with an allocation of $200,000 to help participating producers improve their nutrient use efficiency by utilizing the PSNT and CSNT tests and the information they provide. NRCS is providing additional funding to develop nutrient management plans for all participating farmers who do not have a current nutrient management plan. The project has become so popular and well-received that the $200,000 in EQIP funding is not enough to meet the demand from interested farmers in the county.

In May 2005, project partners received a Conservation Partnership Initiative grant through NRCS to help launch the components of the project focused on addressing excess manure, including enhanced manure distribution in the region and a countywide strategy to treat and utilize or export excess manure. This grant will provide an additional $155,000 for the project over 18 months, which is matched by in-kind contributions by project partners. The grant will be managed by project partner PennState Cooperative Extension in Lancaster County.