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Home / Blogs / Agriculture Uncovered: How BMPs Benefit the Bay
November 3, 2025
A Chesapeake Bay barnyard in need of better management
Agriculture is a major industry in the Chesapeake Bay; consequently, increasing agricultural sustainability is a key component of the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay’s mission. Since the Alliance’s founding in 1971 , our work with farmers and rural landowners has expanded to include projects in every watershed state with teams based in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. In industry, the Alliance works to introduce relevant conservation practices that reduce pollution while making farmers’ jobs easier. All of this critical work is informed by the immense geographic, cultural, and historical diversity of the Chesapeake Watershed.
The next installment in our series exploring the Alliance’s agricultural work will focus on the specific best management practices (BMPs) that our Agriculture Program Team helps implement. BMPs are cutting-edge agricultural practices that increase yields, reduce management needs, and promote ecological and environmental health. The Alliance works to promote and implement a variety of BMPs in multiple key focus areas. Broadly speaking, these focus areas include “barnyard” BMPs that involve improving infrastructure, field-based practices like cover crops and no-till farming, and manure or waste management.
The barnyard or headquarters is the center of operations on a farm. It is often located close to a driveway or access area, and is surrounded by sheds, silos, and barns where machinery and livestock are kept. These structures are connected by pathways and drive lanes to fields and pastures. On dairy farms, this is also where the milk cows are kept and where the milking parlor is located, so milk trucks can have easy access.
When exposed to rain or heavy animal traffic, the barnyard area is prone to soil loss and mud development. Mud is especially a concern for beef and dairy producers, as it increases disease and hoof issues, and slows growth and milk production.
As a result, high-traffic barnyard areas benefit from a specific agricultural BMP called a “Heavy Use Area” or HUA. These HUAs can take many forms, but at their most basic refer to a packed earth, gravel, asphalt, or concrete reinforcement designed to protect soils, control runoff, and prevent mud buildup. Working together with farmers and partners, the Alliance has helped implement a variety of HUA installations, including hardened animal walkways, feeding and watering pads, and roofed HUAs. Each of these practices has multiple benefits for farmers and watershed health.
Muddy cattle grow slower, produce less milk, and are more prone to disease (Photo source Penn State Extension)
Reinforced animal walkways are as simple as they sound.. By replacing dirt lots or walkways with reinforced concrete, farmers can virtually eliminate mud development and protect against future erosion. They also make it easier to clean up animal waste, preventing it from running off and contaminating nearby waterways. Reducing nutrient and sediment runoff is one of the ways to safeguard the health of our watershed. Reinforced walkways are a key conservation practice, especially upstream.
A reinforced animal walkway on a Pennsylvania dairy farm
Like access lanes, areas where animals are fed and watered are also prone to disruption from high traffic. When animals congregate while being fed, they can tear up soil and create deep mud pits. This is especially an issue in spring and fall, when precipitation is higher and the ground is experiencing a freeze-thaw cycle. Muddy feeding and watering areas also have a significant impact on animal health, and again, increase erosion and nutrient pollution.
Roofed HUAs are created by combining a feeding and watering facility with an additional roofed covering, completely preventing runoff and keeping animals clean and dry. When properly engineered, roofed HUAs can even be used to protect livestock from inclement weather, and are often combined with flexible roll-down windows. Though more expensive than other types, roofed HUA’s provide the greatest downstream benefits. Specialized roofed HUA’s can house calves, eliminating the need for hutches, and simplifying waste management and care.
Before and after pictures of a new roofed HUA for calf housing on a Maryland dairy farm.
Heavy Use Areas as an agricultural best management practice have the potential to help farmers improve their own management while protecting our shared watershed. Reducing nutrient and sediment loss has immense downstream benefits for stream, river, and bay water quality. This, in turn, supports the health of aquatic ecosystems, and the recreational and commercial industries that depend on them. Though the dairy farms of Lancaster County and the Shenandoah Valley are geographically far removed from the Chesapeake Bay itself, implementing agricultural BMPs directly benefits Bay health and is a win-win for watershed farmers.
As a component within the Alliance’s BMP arsenal, HUAs are a common practice for livestock operations throughout the watershed. However, heavy use areas are merely one BMP that the Alliance team has played a role in implementing. Field practices and modern manure storage and handling facilities also have major benefits for the Bay and for farmers’ bottom lines. Over the next few months, we will continue to dive deeper into each different BMP group and explore how they protect our watershed and support our local farming communities.
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