Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 18, September 16, 2024
(a) Pursuant to the
authority at N.J.A.C. 1:30-2.2, the State Agriculture
Development Committee hereby adopts and incorporates by reference the Natural
Resource, Agriculture, and Engineering Service's "Field Guide to On-Farm
Composting," NRAES-114, as amended and supplemented, and the Rutgers Cooperative
Extension Bulletin E347, "Livestock Mortality and Butcher Waste Composting: Rutgers
Recommended Practices," as amended and supplemented, as the agricultural management
practice for on-farm compost operations operating on commercial farms, provided
that:
1. Biosolids, including sludge derived
materials, paper sludge, cotton sludge, and solid wastes subject to regulation
pursuant to N.J.A.C. 7:26 are not part of the compost mixture;
2. The finished compost product is not distributed
or sold to off-farm users, except as set forth at
N.J.A.C.
2:76-2B.3(b)3;
3. The production or use of compost on a
commercial farm shall be in accordance with the requirements of the Water Pollution
Control Act, N.J.S.A. 58:10-1 et seq., N.J.A.C. 7:26A and 7:14A, and this
section;
4. Only finished compost
meeting the product quality criteria at
N.J.A.C.
7:26A-4.5(c) shall be land
applied to commercial farms;
5. The
location of compost areas and the land application of compost to commercial farms
shall be in conjunction with and conformance to a farm conservation plan and a
comprehensive nutrient management plan prepared by the United States Department of
Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service or a technical service provider
and approved by the Soil Conservation District; and
6. When livestock mortality and butcher waste are
used as part of the compost mixture:
i. The
livestock mortality and butcher waste shall have been generated on the commercial
farm; and
ii. The on-farm composting
activities shall be managed to minimize objectionable odors.
(1) The activities shall be in conjunction with
and conform to a farm conservation plan that meets the planning criteria for odor
resource concerns;
(2) As measured at
the property lines of the commercial farm, odor related to the activities shall not
be greater than "2--Light" as set forth in the odor intensity scale of the Air
Pollution Investigation Guidelines published by the New Jersey Department of
Environmental Protection at 39 N.J.R. 3999(c); and
7. The recommendations concerning local ordinances
in the "Livestock Mortality and Butcher Waste Composting: Rutgers Recommended
Practices" in the section entitled "Best Management Practices: Burial of Normal
Mortalities" are excluded from this agricultural management practice for on-farm
compost operations on commercial farms.
(b) Within one year of the start-up of the
composting operation, commercial farm operators shall attend a composting course
sponsored by the Rutgers Extension County Agricultural or Resource Management Agents
or other courses approved by the New Jersey Department of Environmental
Protection.
(c) The "Field Guide to
On-Farm Composting" is available on the Cornell University Library eCommons website
at https://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/67148.
(d) The "Livestock Mortality and Butcher Waste
Composting: Rutgers Recommended Practices" is available on the Rutgers Cooperative
Extension website at http://njaes.rutgers.edu/pubs/.
