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Ga. Agriculture Commissioner says he can't stop controversial farming method
It's called soil amendment spraying, and neighbors in these rural Georgia counties say it stinks and attracts flies. But the solution to their problem isn't so cut and dry.
ATLANTA - Georgia’s Agriculture Commissioner said his hands are tied if critics expect his help to end a controversial method of farming.
It’s called soil amendment spraying, a practice the FOX 5 I-Team has been looking into for months now.
"A lot of the public wants us to do away with it," said Gary Black. "That’s what the comments say. I can’t do that."
But it’s easy to see why the public wants soil amendments to disappear.
Home video in Jefferson County captured a tanker spraying liquid waste. Commissioner Black said this form of spraying is not allowed. Instead, the soil amendment is supposed to be "injected" in the soil to help cut down on smells.
Across rural Georgia, farmers allow companies to deliver and spray liquid waste on their land — the legal term is soil amendments — byproducts from food processing operations searching for some way of disposing of the millions of gallons generated each year.
State officials say the liquid comes from the washout of plants that produce poultry, pet food or even milk.
"It’s unbelievable," complained Gene Brown, a retired Jefferson County farmer who lives across the street from soil amendment spraying. "The worst smell that we have. We’ve never had this smell before. Never."
The practice is regulated by the Georgia Department of Agriculture, soon to issue revised rules for what can be sprayed and how.
Don't expect Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black to ban soil amendments. He says the law won't let him.
But Black said don’t expect any new attempt to cut down on the flies and stink.
"If something were to become a nuisance, that would be between the people involved," he reasoned.
A cattle farmer himself, Black believes the soil amendments provide real nutrients that can help a farmer grow crops.
"A lot of farmers have my phone. I’ve never gotten a call from a farmer who’s engaged in… and said I’ll never do it again," he said.
Two workers for a spraying operation said the soil amendment was a substitute for expensive fertilizer. But Commissioner Black said soil amendments are not fertilizer.
Black said farmers actually get paid to accept the soil amendment. The FOX 5 I-Team asked why would the farmer be paying for soil amendments if such a fertilizer substitute was so helpful for growing.
"Let’s be careful," warned Black. ""Don’t call it fertilizer because literally… let’s keep our terms straight."
Not a fertilizer? That’s what supporters call it.
"It’s just liquid fertilizer," asserted Bryan Yates, manager of one spraying operation in Jefferson County. "That’s it."
"You’re not replacing fertilizer with this," said Black, trying to clarify. "I guess that’s why they call it an amendment."
But the confusion doesn’t stop there.
"I think more people are complaining but nobody making no headway about it," explained Brown, the Jefferson County retiree.
Retired farmer Gene Brown said he doesn't trust Gary Black to protect neighbors, citing the commissioner's son and his connection to the soil amendment industry.
Brown said for more than 60 days straight he watched soil amendment sprayed across the road from his home.
The company doing the spraying said the farmer wasn’t growing a crop, just grass to feed his cattle.
Jefferson County is one of nearly a dozen across Georgia asking Black for the power to inspect soil amendment operations and crack down on those that cause a nuisance.
Black has repeatedly rejected the idea.
"I think a hodgepodge of regulations across this state would not be good," he said. "But I heard them, but again I can’t do anything about that. The legislature would have to— I can’t do this in this role."
But the commissioner’s reluctance to offer new protection to homeowners has generated its own stink.
"I’m going to tell you my personal opinion," said Brown. "I don’t care for Gary Black. He’s not helping the public. He’s helping his family."
The LinkedIn page for Commissioner Black's son Ward. He works in the soil amendment business, but on the "dry" side, not the liquid version that is causing so much consternation across Georgia.
The commissioner’s son Ward Black works for a company connected to Kacy Cronan, one of the big players in the transport of soil amendments.
According to the Georgia Soil Company website, they sell "compost-based soil amendments."
"Kacy is my boss," Ward Black told the FOX 5 I-Team. "But I don’t have anything to do with the liquid soil amendment. If you asked me what it’s made out of, I don’t even know."
Cronan confirmed the commissioner’s son’s role with the company is solely in the "dry" soil amendment industry, selling compost to nurseries.
Cronan insisted the liquid soil amendment industry is getting a bad rap.
"It’s a monitored and regulated practice in our state," he told the FOX 5 I-Team.
Nearly 1700 fish died during a soil amendment leak in Wilkes County this summer.
A recent fish kill in Wilkes County was caused by millions of gallons of soil amendment delivered to a defunct dairy farm, some of it eventually leaked through a containment lagoon and pouring into the river below. According to state records, Cronan was in charge of delivering the product.
The landowners recently settled a complaint from the state Environmental Protection Division and agreed to pay $85,000 in fines and cleanup costs.
Cronan was not accused of any wrongdoing.
"That was a perfect storm with several factors," explained Cronan before referring the FOX 5 I-Team to a publicist he said his company was hiring.
Commissioner Black insisted no one in his family has any financial connection to the industry he’s charged with regulating.
"The public can be sure I have no interest in this," he said. "We have an interest in making sure the product is… the program is run correctly."
Black said his office should be releasing new rules on soil amendments before the end of the month.