EEG grant supports sustainable agricultural practices
A grant proposal submitted by Dr. Guy Iverson and colleagues to the North Carolina Department of Justice was selected in the form of East Carolina University receiving $175,001 to support environmentally sustainable animal agricultural practices in eastern North Carolina.
ECU will work with Butler Farms and Waterkeepers Carolina, according to Iverson, an assistant professor of environmental health in the Department of Health Education and Promotion in the College of Health and Human Performance. An aim is to improve water quality in the Cape Fear River Basin. This is part of the state’s Environmental Enhancement Grant program.
Iverson
“ECU, in collaboration with Butler Farms and Waterkeepers Carolina, is studying water quality downgradient of a concentrated animal feeding operation using a lagoon capping system and anaerobic digester,” Iverson said. “Funding from the Environmental Enhancement Grant program will be leveraged to build on a pilot project funded by the UNC Inter-institutional Planning Grant. Results from the pilot project indicated that the capping system was highly effective at mitigating airborne pollutants, but water quality data indicated that the CAFO could be a substantial source of nitrogen, especially nitrate. The work supported by the EEG program will allow our team to study water quality benefits provided by an engineered practice. This practice, if successful, will improve water quality in the Cape Fear River Basin and may also serve as a model for other CAFOs seeking to mitigate their environmental impact. Results from this project can help build capacity toward developing sustainable animal waste management practices, which is vitally important for eastern North Carolina.”
HHP researchers have been awarded more than $5.2 million this fiscal year in new grant and contract funding.
This grant was part of a Dec. 1 announcement by the NCDOJ that Attorney General Josh Stein designated $685,327.21 in grants to preserve natural resources and ensure clean air and drinking water in eastern North Carolina. In 2022, Stein is awarding $2.5 million in EEG grants to 23 recipients.
“Agriculture is our state’s most important industry,” Stein said in the release. “We want farming to thrive at the same time we promote practices that are good for our land. This study will help us do just that.”
In addition to ECU, other grant recipients included the city of New Bern, Croatan Institute, The Conservation Fund and The Trust for Tomorrow.
About the Environmental Enhancement Grant Program (From NCDOJ)
The North Carolina Department of Justice’s Environmental Enhancement Grant program began after a 2000 agreement between the Attorney General’s Office and Smithfield Foods. Under that agreement, Smithfield provides $2 million to the state every year to be distributed among environmental projects across North Carolina. Including the 2022 grants, the Attorney General Office’s has awarded more than $41 million to more than 210 projects in the state.