Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Land Management topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Albany conservation commission reviews agricultural plan, updates organic-certification language
Summary
On April 7 the Albany Conservation Commission reviewed proposed amendments to its Agricultural Management Plan, removed an inaccurate sentence about the absence of commercial agriculture, clarified the parcels organic-certification status (previously certified in 2014, not currently certified), and agreed to forward the amended plan to the Land Trust and relevant agencies for review.
The Albany Conservation Commission spent much of its April 7 meeting reviewing proposed edits to the Agricultural Management Plan, agreeing to correct language about commercial agriculture and organic certification and to send the amended text to outside reviewers for comment.
Chair (S1) led the review and members walked through the plan section by section. A primary change agreed to was removing a sentence that read "currently, there's no commercial agriculture on-site," because members said farmers are now interested in using fields on the property. Committee member (S4) summarized that change: the sentence stating there is no commercial agriculture would be removed to reflect current interest.
Members also discussed practice-level guidance. Cover cropping and pollinator buffer strips were described as required or strongly recommended in the plan: cover cropping is addressed in Section A, pollinator buffers are recommended, soil tests are recommended every other year, and the plan requires avoiding wet areas until late season and maintaining buffer strips along Swift River. Committee members noted many of these practices are already being used by current farmers.
The commission corrected the plans organic-certification language after members said the property had been certified in the past but is not currently certified. Committee member (S4) read proposed replacement wording verbatim: "The property was previously certified organic in 2014. Since then, the farmers have been following best practices for organic farming. However, there have been no updates to the organic certification." Members agreed to retain the commission and Upper Saco Valley (land trust) preference for organic practices on site while clarifying that active certification has not been maintained.
For infrastructure and mapping, members reviewed appendices (Map A, soils Map B, proposed infrastructure Map C) and noted a labeled access road slated to be discontinued and a proposed new access road from the state garage; they said the option should remain open pending confirmation from the relevant land manager.
Next steps: Committee member (S4) said the proposed amended plan will be forwarded to Cindy at the Land Trust, then to NRCS and the UNH Coop for review. If reviewers do not raise objections the commission expects to schedule a vote on the amendments at a subsequent meeting.
The commission did not take a final vote on the Agricultural Management Plan at the April 7 meeting; instead members agreed on textual corrections and a referral process to external reviewers.
