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Master's Project: LAKE CHAMPLAIN WATER QUALITY: EFFECTIVENESS OF GRANTS ON VERMONT’S AGRICULTURAL PHOSPHORUS LOAD
Francis, Holly
Francis, Holly
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Abstract
Lake Champlain has been experiencing water quality issues for over a century and cyanobacteria blooms from excess nutrients since the 1960s. Various segments of the lake were listed under the Clean Water Act (CWA) of 1972’s impaired waters section 303(d) in the 1990s, but it was not until 2002 when the first total maximum daily load (TMDL) was approved by the EPA for the entire lake, later rescinded in 2011 and a new one approved in 2016. However, nearly a decade after the second, revised TMDL, Lake Champlain remains in a battle with phosphorus reduction. Agriculture accounts for 38% of the phosphorus entering Lake Champlain, the category with the highest percentage. For a lot of agricultural practice changes, a significant amount of money needs to be invested that many small Vermont farms may not have the capital for. To assess how the state is supporting a more sustainable agricultural industry, data was collected primarily from the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets (AAFM) water quality grant programs with the lens of farm sizes. Even though small agricultural businesses received more than half of the AAFM grants, there is a major discrepancy in percentage of large, medium, and small farms applying for the grants. Considering the quantitative data, this project worked on creating a list of recommendations for the existing grants to improve funding for phosphorus reduction on Vermont’s 6,537 farms.
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2026-04-21
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Natural Resources