Even a farm advocate says that with additional money available for farmers, the state may be in a better position to require some changes.
"There comes a point in time where you have to say, 'Enough is enough. You've got to do this on this field or that field,' " says Russell B. Brinsfield, executive director of the University of Maryland's Center for Agro-Ecology and a part-time farmer. "I think we're headed there."
Recently, the O'Malley administration did propose new regulations on how the state's largest poultry farmers handle their chicken manure, a major source of the nutrients fouling Eastern Shore rivers. The idea was first broached a decade ago but abandoned in the face of opposition both from the chicken farmers and the poultry industry. The latest draft of the rules will get hearings in November.
The administration has not proposed new "nutrient management" regulations for crop farmers.
Though their numbers have faded, farmers remain a potent lobby in Annapolis, buttressed by nostalgia for the state's rural past and by their enduring image as plucky producers of the food we eat.
'Pave the bay'
Daunting as farm pollution may be, consider this:
More than 100 acres of woodlands are bulldozed daily around the Chesapeake to make way for houses, roads and parking lots, according to the federal government. Regionwide, new asphalt and concrete claim an area the size of Baltimore every two years. A bumper sticker that reads "Pave the Bay" might more honestly describe our behavior.
What's needed, advocates say, are strict curbs on new development, especially near the bay and its tributaries. Growth needs to be concentrated more tightly in and around existing cities and towns.
"At some point, we're going to have to put lines on a map [and say] where we want growth to occur and where we want open space maintained," the bay foundation's Baker contends.
But others say there's a limit to how much government can tell people where to live or what they can do with their property.
"You can't push the envelope of regulation unreasonably because you risk citizen backlash," says David Bliden, executive director of the Maryland Association of Counties. In Anne Arundel County, for instance, complaints from waterfront property owners recently prompted officials to table plans to crack down on shoreline building projects.
