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Workshop Newsletter Issue 6, May 2001
Contributed by Geoff McFarlane, DNRE, Victoria.
For more information on this project please contact Geoff on 03 5226 4722 or Kathryne Trewick on 03 5573 0725.
This 2 year project is funded through NHT and Department of Natural Resources and Environment in South-West Victoria. The purpose of the project is to work with farmers in developing a set of selfassessment worksheets to measure their existing farming practices against recommended best management practice. The worksheets have been developed on the ten most important environmental issues identified by farmers.
The worksheets cover best management practices for water management, soil management, vegetation management, chemical management, pest weed management, pest animal management, effluent management, farm waste management, nutrient management and property management planning.
Over 120 farmers, extension and research staff have been involved in developing the work sheets.
This year over 200 farmers as individuals and in groups across South West Victoria will be involved in assessing the adoption of best management practices on their farms.
RIRDC is making copies of these newsletters available on their website (they can be found at http://www.rirdc.gov.au/ems).
If you still wish to receive this newsletter in hard copy please complete the enclosed page and fax or mail to the address as detailed. Under the Privacy Act your express permission is required to keep your name on the database.
Land Valuation as a potential driver for EMS
Contributed by Catherine Nind, Environmental Officer, Agriculture WA. For more information, contact Catherine at cnind@agric.wa.gov.au or 08 9575 1351.
More attractive property valuations and/or discounts on rates and land taxes are possible incentives that could be used to encourage the adoption of EMS by landowners. Currently, methods of land valuation for rating and taxation purposes often do not promote conservation of the resource base.
There is scope to change these methods to encourage more effective environmental management. One possible way of doing this is to link EMS to land valuation.
If the real estate industry, the valuation profession and the finance industry could be encouraged to recognise the use of responsible environmental management then this would also provide an added incentive for landowners to improve their environmental performance.
Agriculture WA is now undertaking
a RIRDC funded study looking at changing the way that land is valued to
encourage landowners to be better "stewards." The project has four main
objectives:
EMS
in Agriculture Conference 6-8 November, 2001 Ballina NSW
A registration form for the upcoming EMS in Agriculture Conference is enclosed, and can also be found on the RIRDC website, http://www.rirdc.gov.au/ems#events or http://www.rirdc.gov.au/new.html#events International speakers at the conference will include Hal Rudy (OSCIA), Marci Carter (Iowa Waste Reduction Centre) and Tim Mulholland (Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources).
The Australia Landcare Council, GRDC, AFFA and several State agencies will be supporting the travel of Harold Rudy, the Program Manager of the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA) to Australia in November.
Rudy's visit is occurring as part of the Landcare Council program of development of on-farm EMS in Australia.
OSCIA, in cooperation with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs has been the delivery agent for the Ontario Environmental Farm Plan (OEFP), since 1992. The EFP is designed as a voluntary on-farm assessment that allows farmers to rate the environmental conditions for their farm, field operations and natural resources. Action plans to address issues found are then drawn up and reviewed by a local peer group. The EFP deals with risk reduction, prevention and assists in setting priorities for site clean-ups if required.
Approximately 15,000 farmers in Ontario have enrolled in the introductory workshops associated with the EFP. A financial incentive of $1,500 per farm business is provided by the Federal Government in Canada, and can be claimed following the review of the action plan (assuming it meets requirements to achieve environmental, improvement).
This funding support had leveraged close to $100 million of on-farm investment to address environmental concerns. Many other provinces in Canada have adopted or are in the process of adopting a similar program.
Currently the EFP does not include any on-farm inspection or certification, but with future modifications and third party inspections, the EFP could be developed into an EMS that is farmer friendly and meets ISO 14001 requirements.
Contact Bruce Lloyd, Australian Landcare Council for further information.
Marci Carter has been a Waste Reduction Specialist at the Iowa Waste Reduction Centre since November, 1994. During that time she has worked with small businesses on regulatory compliance and pollution prevention. Her work with businesses includes the completion of over 100 on-site audits at commercial and industrial facilities to provide pollution prevention and state and federal regulatory information. She is heading up the Iowa Waste Reduction Centre's ISO 14000 project and is currently a member of the Multi-State Working Group (MSWG) on Environmental Management Systems.
Marci has been a participant of the MSWG on EMS for three years and is currently Chair of the Membership committee and co-chair on the committee looking at agriculture and EMS. Marci is an ISO 14001 auditor and an ISO 9000 provisional auditor, has a B.A. in chemical engineering from U.C.L.A. and 11 years of experience as an environmental consultant. Marci will be speaking at the conference about the role of the Multi-State Working group in evaluating and guiding EMS development in the US, with particular reference to agriculture.
Tim Mulholland is an "organisational ecologist" for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
In this role, he oversees agency-wide planning and evaluation, with the intention of helping the agency understand what it says it will do, what it is doing and whether it is accomplishing its goals. These same principles are encouraged at all levels of the organisation so that learning and innovation can occur. One particular area Tim works on is encouraging innovative approaches to environmental and agricultural issues. Wisconsin has a variety of existing and developing "tools," such as the Wisconsin Agricultural Stewardship Initiative and proposed Green Tier legislation, that encourage partners to exceed legal requirements and achieve results in a variety of environmental aspects. Tim will discuss features of these and other programs at the conference.
The three day conference will be followed by a farm tour (depending on interest). Please notify of your intention to join the farm tour as soon as possible as it will only run if enough people are interested.
The final conference program will be determined after abstracts have been submitted and updates will be placed in this newsletter.
Some useful EMS and related sites
Developments
in environmental management system (EMS)
international
standards ISO 14001 and ISO 14004
Contributed by Gordon Ure, Program Manager Environment, Quality Assurance Services International Standards Organisation
Technical Committee 207 (ISO/TC207) is responsible for the development of international environmental management standards. In June 2000 ISO/TC 207 was asked to revise the ISO 14001, Environmental management systems-Specification with guidance for use. Significantly, the revision is being limited to issues related to compatibility of ISO 14001 with the latest quality management system standard, ISO 9001:2000, Quality management systems- Requirements, and also to clarification of the existing text. All text changes will be designed to assist with the understanding and implementation by users without resulting in additional requirements.
A tentative program has been established which could have a revised Standard available for publication at the earliest by the middle of 2003.
Examples of areas that are likely to come under scrutiny through the process are: some of the definitions eg continual improvement and prevention of pollution; the documentation requirements for procedures; and the compatibility of the "generic" requirements common to both environmental and quality management, eg documentation, document control, records, system audit and management review.
At the same time ISO/TC207 are actively working in a similar manner on ISO14004, Environmental management systems-General guidelines on principles, systems and supporting techniques. Key issues that have already been identified for consideration include: aspects, impacts and determination of significance (possibly including an explanatory diagram), prevention of pollution, objectives and targets; external communication; legal and other requirements; continual improvement; initial environmental review and operational control.
ISO 14004 work is being programmed to take account of any adjustments to ISO 14001 and to have the revised version published with the revised ISO 14001 by the middle of 2003 at the earliest.
Standards Australia International (SAI) has recently publish a new handbook HB203:2000 Environment risk management-Principles and process. The handbook has been produced to help individuals and organisations to understand environmental risk management and to implement environmental risk management programs.
An Australian Standards committee is currently working on a document to assist in undertaking initial environmental reviews. Such reviews, designed to determine the current position of an organisation with regard to the environment, are identified in ISO 14004 as an important first step in establishing an EMS.
MSWG and Cal/EPA set a new course towards sustainability
Contributed by Christine Kohl-Zaugg and Thomas Lanphar, Californian EPA
Are environmental management systems (EMSs) effective and reliable tools to improve environmental protection and ultimately lead to sustainability? This is the key issue addressed by the US Multi- State Working Group (MSWG), a nationwide group established in September 1996. This group is a unique mix of government, private industry, public interest groups and academic institutions interested in the role of the EMS and how it is linked to sustainability.
The MSWG collaborated with the USEPA to establish a national database (housed at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill), which contains information collected through state EMS pilot projects. The MSWG focuses on how the six following areas are affected by EMSs: environmental performance, environmental conditions, environmental compliance, pollution prevention, costs and benefits, and interested party involvement.
About 70 EMS pilot projects are currently underway nationwide. Seven projects are located in California and include metal finishing companies, vineyards and wineries, wastewater treatment facilities, a major computer manufacturer, two aircraft manufacturers and the Pentel company.
These seven pilot projects had to meet special criteria.
One of the most important requirements included the sharing of information and data learned from EMS implementation with the Californian EPA (Cal/EPA), regional working groups, and the public. Additionally, the set of pilot projects had to be varied in geographical location, size, industry type, environmental impacts, and EMS maturity.
A final analysis of the results by Cal/EPA is expected by January 1, 2002. This final analysis will end phase I of the Cal/EPA EMS Project, which besides its analysis of the efficiency of EMSs, is also a learning process for developing partnerships between government, business and environmental groups.
4 additional phases are currently in the proposal stage. Phase II will focus on encouraging companies to commit to specific environmental outcomes by exceeding what is regulated by law and/or to address unregulated environmental issues by their own initiative. Phase III will extend the EMS concept to achieve specific regional or sectoral goals, aiming to improve air quality, water quality, and habitat restoration. Phase IV proposes to "green" government by establishing an EMS within Cal/EPA. Finally, phase V proposes the development of a plan for a sustainable California, resulting in a new partnership between economic growth and environmental sustainability.
For more information on these projects, contact Tom Lanphar (tlanphar@dtsc.ca.gov).
Contributed by Gary W. Jackson, Director National Farm*A*Syst/Home*A*Syst Program
The International Standards Organisation (ISO) has granted environmental certification to Carroll's Foods of Warsaw, N.C., for facilities encompassing approximately 170,000 company-owned sows in North Carolina and Virginia. SGS International Certification Services Inc., an accredited ISO registrar from Rutherford, N.J., conducted the validation audit. Carroll's is a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods Inc. of Virginia, the world's largest integrated pork producer.
ISO 14001 certification recognises that the company has implemented comprehensive environmental standards. “Certification applies to all components of the company's nutrient management program as administered on 109 company-owned farms representing 170,000 sows in North Carolina and Virginia” said Don Butler, director of government relations and public affairs for Murphy Brown LLC, Smithfield's subsidiary created recently by merging Murphy Farms and Brown's of Carolina. Butler initiated the ISO application process in 1997 when he was Carroll's environmental compliance manager before the company's acquisition by Smithfield. Facilities operated by Murphy and Brown in North Carolina are also progressing toward ISO certification.
Carroll's is the first U.S. livestock production company to receive certification under ISO's relatively new environmental standards program.
ISO environmental certification involves 17 elements, including pollution prevention, regulatory guidance and monitoring plans as well as commitments to continual improvement. Certification is for three years, with semiannual audits. “ISO certification is significant for Smithfield, because the company produces and processes pork internationally” Butler said. The company has spent $100,000 on consulting services to achieve ISO certification, not counting staff time. Besides U.S. production and packing facilities, Smithfield owns processing plants in Canada and Europe and production ventures in Latin America.
For more information contact Gary Jackson on gwjackso@facstaff.wisc.edu Home page: www.uwex.edu/farmasyst
Want more information on EMS ?
If you want to find out more
about EMS, the 1999 workshop, any of the issues raised in this newsletter,
or to contribute an article, please contact: Genevieve Carruthers Ph: (02)
66261237 Fax (02) 66283264 email genevieve.carruthers@agric.nsw.gov.au
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