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Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and Democratic lawmakers are seeking legislation that would give the Department of Agriculture more authority over farming operations that do not follow best management practices.

Violations are supposed to be turned over to the Dept of Environmental Protection, but Fried said no referrals were made in the decade before she took office.

She has since sent 6,600 violations to DEP, but she argues the Department of Agriculture, not DEP, should have enforcement authority.

“And if we have found that somebody has violated and going against the BMP program, what should have happened is taking those producers and sending them over to Environmental Protection for enforcement. Unfortunately, prior to my administration, no companies and producers were ever sent over to DEP. We have since reported that sixty six hundred under my administration has been doing so. What this would do is instead of sending this over to DEP, we in-house it. That way, we are the checks an balances inside, because there is a disconnect,” said Fried.

Fried is also proposing major climate change initiatives, including the increased use of solar.

Fried is a candidate for the 2022 democratic nomination for Governor.