ST. LOUIS, MO. — The United Soybean Board (U.S.B.) announced on Feb. 8 the availability of an audit report containing a compilation of environmental regulations in all 50 states.

"USB wanted to provide a readily available resource that compiled all the variations on local and state environmental regulations," said Lewis Bainbridge, U.S.B. Domestic Marketing program chair and a soybean farmer and cattle and hog producer from Ethan, South Dakota. "This resource should be helpful for poultry and livestock producers looking to expand or just interested in using it as a resource."

The report, which was conducted by C.D.M., a consulting, engineering, construction and operations firm, provides evaluations of all of the regulations for animal agriculture in each state and compared the regulations to the existing federal regulations. The report contains details on each state’s definition of a confined animal feeding operation, water-quality regulations, air-quality requirements, discharge and other requirements and permitting information as well as information about assistance programs available to producers, U.S.B. said.

The soybean checkoff condensed the full report down to a 220-page book that features a four-page analysis for each state, an introduction of the process to collect the information and a glossary of common terms used throughout the audit. U.S.B. said the book also contains a CD with the full 750-page report with more extensive regulation reviews for each state and presentation slides for each state.

USB said the project was done in support of U.S. poultry and livestock producers. U.S. poultry and livestock represent the number one customer for U.S. soybean farmers, consuming nearly all the soybean meal used domestically, the board said.

"Soybean farmers and poultry and livestock producers need to continue to work together," said Bainbridge. "U.S. poultry and livestock consume a huge amount of soybean meal and represent the original value-added market for U.S. soybeans."

To learn more about getting a copy of the environmental audit book, visit www.unitedsoybean.org.