A Michigan grower questions his future of farming if the EPA implements its Clean Water Act Rule.
Caleb Stewart is a fifth-generation farmer in Mid-Michigan. He says he’s no stranger to regulations raising hogs on the Clinton/Gratiot County line. But, he says the EPA’s overreach will affect every acre in Michigan.
“In my area, when it says 1,500 feet from a regulated waterway—that’s everything—that’s everywhere, everything.”
He says the rule will regulate connecting waters including his subsurface drainage water and he will need a permit to control pests.
Only 32, Stewart is also raising the sixth-generation of his family’s farm. But if the EPA’s rule goes into effect, he says he’s not sure what that future may hold.
“Every time that a regulatory agency comes in and adds a new wrinkle to that, it makes me wonder where am I going to go, what I’m going to do? What are my kids going to be looking at?”
Stewart was part of a news conference Monday where Michigan Farm Bureau announced intentions to join in suing the EPA over its Clean Water Act/Waters of the U.S. rule.
Source: www.brownfieldagnews.com