Farms and farming are intrinsically linked with human civilization, and have had a dramatic impact on our planet's landscape and environmental systems.¹ Environmental regulation in the United States, though young when compared to other fields of law, is a highly developed body of law. Unfortunately, a wide chasm exists between these two social endeavors—farms are virtually unregulated by the expansive body of environmental law that has developed in the United States in the past 30 years. Yet the absence of an environmental regulation program for farms presents us with the opportunity to create one from scratch. The time for taking advantage of that opportunity is long overdue.

To acknowledge that farms pollute and degrade the environment should neither indict farming as a way of life nor denigrate the ideals farmers hold. Farming in America is a deeply rooted cultural institution with many noble qualities and important economic and social benefits, but it is also an industry having much in common with other industries, their owners, and their workers. Acknowledging that industries cause environmental damage has not generally been regarded as an attack on the people or the institutions involved. Nor should it be so for farms. The plain truth is that farms pollute groundwater, surface water, air, and soils; they destroy open space and wildlife habitat; they erode soils and contribute to sedimentation of lakes and rivers; they deplete water resources; and they often simply smell bad. These effects are and always have been consequences of farming in general.² What is amazing is that these consequences have escaped serious regulatory attention even through the recent decades of environmental awakening. The organic farming³ and sustainable agriculture⁴ movements that are gaining [31 ELR 10204] momentum from within the farming community may be steps in the right direction, but they are not panaceas. At best these steps should be taken in addition to, rather than in lieu of, an effort to rein in the environmental impact of farms through a concerted, comprehensive regulatory framework.