                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

AGRICULTURAL COMMITMENTS; WORK GROUP (§ 62.1-44.119:2)

The Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources and the Secretary of Agriculture
and Forestry shall convene a stakeholder advisory group, hereinafter referred to
as the Group, to review annual progress and make recommendations toward the
implementation of the Commonwealth&#8217;s agricultural commitments in the
Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load Phase III Watershed Implementation Plan.
The Group shall develop (i) a process to assist any operator of 50 or more acres
of Chesapeake Bay cropland in developing a nutrient management plan that meets
the requirements of the goals to be achieved by the target date and (ii) a plan
for the stream exclusion program in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Such plans and
progress reports shall include the number of practices completed by river basin
in the prior program year and practices needed to complete the agriculture
sector nutrient load reductions, including sediment reductions by river basin,
identification of priority regions, the number of operators affected within each
region, initiatives to enhance progress, an accounting of funding received
toward the agricultural commitments, shortfalls remaining, and the consequences
of such funding shortfalls. Such progress reports shall also include specific
percentages relating to nutrient management plan and stream exclusion adoption
compared to the requirements of the Phase III Watershed Implementation Plan.

HISTORY: 2023, cc. 735, 736.