PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Table of Content
- Background
- Goals and Objectives
- Methods
- Location and Size of the Project Area
- Producer Participation
- Project Action Plan and Timeline
- Project Management
- Project Benefits
- Project Evaluation
Animal agriculture in the Northeast is struggling to remain profitable while reducing its environmental impact in order to be sustainable. Pressure to improve manure management comes from an ever increasing rural population, proximity to hydrologically sensitive areas, cost and price constraints, and the demand to meet both water and air environmental regulations. There are a number of innovative on-farm manure projects in the region that demonstrate solutions to these problems. It is vital that information about these projects gets to farmers and their advisors to speed adoption and implementation of comprehensive nutrient management plans (CNMPs).
Two of the top three priorities identified by the Animal Waste Initiative in the Northeast are:
1) Determine the risk of pathogens from agriculture, their potential impact, and effectiveness of risk reduction practices.
2) Research and documentation of alternative treatments for manure such as: anaerobic digesters, composting, and/or other treatment methods.
Odor is one of the major sources of conflict between dairy producers and the general public. In New York State only 48%, 33%, and 13% of the large, medium, and small farms, respectively, have more than 60 days of manure storage. Farms are completing CNMPs that require long-term storage to avoid spreading manure on saturated ground. The existing manure storage facilities have already produced increased odors. As more farms begin to install and operate storage facilities, the complaints and conflicts will increase. With the trends toward larger and more concentrated farms with more manure storage systems, more farms will experience problems in dealing with their neighbors over odors. This will create an increased demand for odor control treatment and better handling systems.
There are existing treatment systems that work well, but there are very few case studies with reliable data for the planning and design of manure treatment systems for farmers and their advisors to use. Documentation of the mass and nutrient flows and the design processes are needed for farmers to make decisions. Each different manure handling and treatment system needs to be evaluated for its effect on the nutrients that will be applied to cropland. There are several ways some of the treatment systems can actually provide a return to the farm, in the form of reduced spreading costs, energy production, solids for sale or use as bedding, and from tipping fees for food waste. Documenting the ways manure management can become a profit center for the farm will be vital to adoption of BMPs.
Both private and agency technical service providers need this information as well. They are charged with providing good advice to farms. At this time there is little good information on which to base this advice. As NRCS shifts to increased use of Technical Service Providers (TSP), training needs will have to be meet. Increased capacity to plan, design, and construct BMPs for manure handling and treatment which meet NRCS practice standards will be needed. New NRCS standards for manure treatment require technical resources to give practical planning and design advice to both public and private planners and designers.
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The overall goal of this project is to improve the productivity, profitability, and environmental performance of manure management for Northeast agriculture through a partnership that communicates the results of on-farm demonstration manure projects to a broad agricultural sector. The project will use a partnership of established agricultural delivery systems such as: Cooperative Extension, Farm Bureau, land grant universities, State Department of Agriculture and Markets, State Department of Environmental Conservation, farmers, NRCS, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, and others from agricultural industries.
Objectives: Manure management specialists at Cornell University have been collaborating with northeast states to document odor, nutrient, and pathogen changes in storage and treatment systems including anaerobic digestion, composting, lagoons, and land application methods. This project would coordinate the results of various demonstrations and studies to show how manure handling and treatment affect environmental factors such as phosphorus, nitrogen, odors, pathogens and system integration. We will then coordinate the information into topical resource guides and integrate this information into a decision tool that is useful for farmers and their advisors. We will use an inter-agency advisory group to set priorities and select specific tasks that will best accomplish the objectives of the group and evaluate the results.
The specific objectives are:
1) To document the mass and nutrient flows, the energy use and/or production, the pathogen and odor reduction of various dairy manure handling and treatment systems existing on farms in the northeast.
2) To develop predictive equations that can be used to estimate mass and nutrient flows and estimate the costs of dairy manure handling and treatment systems.
3) To develop a web-based model that dairy farmers can use to determine which type of manure handling and treatment system would be best for their farm.
4) The final objective is to disseminate informational resource material through the existing extension systems by the use of demonstrations, open houses, seminars, ag. press publications, and educational programs. The materials generated would be appropriate as technical resources in local NRCS field office technical guides (FOTG). These efforts will be used to encourage adoption of technically sound and appropriate methods for the northeast farming community.
We will use the Natural Resources, Agricultural and Engineering Service (NRAES) to continually market written material, and maintain a website through Cornell's server which will keep the material current over time.
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This project will use the Ag Waste Initiative personnel in each state combined with other stakeholders to prioritize specific activities that will obtain relevant information from existing projects to transfer these technologies to the agricultural community. This project will analyze the economics, mass and nutrient flows, and the impact on the environment (both water and air), develop various informational materials and deliver them through a partnership with existing organizations. The goal is to create a longterm, region-wide partnership to provide technical information for the agricultural community on innovative manure technologies.
The stakeholders involved will select a number of alternative manure management strategies that farms have adopted, analyze them, document their performance and then create information in the form of fact sheets, case studies and topical resource guides that will help farmers and their advisors decide if the manure management technology can be used on their farm, and what the impacts on their profitability, environmental effects, and management will be.
Using contacts with each agricultural waste initiative contact in the northeast and the surrounding states, local experts will be commissioned to gather data and analyze the systems in their area that hold the most promise. This project will provide funding to perform the testing required to get accurate information on the projects. The local expert will use a standard framework for the fact sheets and case studies developed by the project. Peer review and editing of each fact sheet will insure high quality information useful to all farms in the region.
Combining design techniques from a number of projects will result in topical resource guides such as: Guidelines for Anaerobic Digestion, Dairy Manure
Composting, Economic Evaluation of Manure Treatment Various Systems, etc. suitable for publishing by Dairy Practices Council and/or NRAES.
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Location and Size of the Project Area
Although the targeted area would be the Northeast states, the benefits of this project would be nationwide. Other areas of the country could obtain information generated by this project, adapt it to their climate and farming practices and help farms and their advisors select appropriate technology for their manure handling systems.
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Based on our past experiences in obtaining detailed data from manure handling and treatment systems, farms with the system are very cooperative. Farms with innovative manure systems often don't have the test data necessary to fully document their system, but are willing to have the measurements taken for their benefit as well as the benefit of the industry. We expect to have funding to document about 30 different systems with this project. Farms planning new systems are anxious to receive reliable facts that can help them predict how the proposed system would work on their specific site. With CAFO regulations alone, over 1,000 farms will need to improve their manure management systems to get into compliance. Continued environmental pressure on the sensitive watersheds in the Northeast including Chesapeake Bay , Long Island Sound, the Fingerlakes, Great Lakes , Lake Champlain , the St Lawrence River and the Allegany
River will require all farms to examine which manure handling method is best for their site. We anticipate over 10,000 farms will receive information from this project to help them select best management practices for their farm.
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Project Action Plan and Timeline
States are in the process of modifying and clarifying the 1972 Clean Water Act requirements for CAFOs. EPA expects farms to implement the requirements by 2006. This will add to the need for information that dairy farmers and their advisors can use to make decisions on how they will handle and treat their dairy manure. More information is needed on the impact these systems will have on northeast dairy farms.
Table 1. Project action plan, timeframes and milestones.
Project actions |
Who |
When |
Result |
Organize a Northeast-wide advisory group based on Ag Waste Initiative |
Cornell |
Oct 2004 Semi annually there after |
Coordinated and targeted manure management systems would be identified |
Analyze systems throughout the NE |
Ag Waste Initiative participants |
Dec 2004 and then ongoing |
Economic, nutrient, mass flow, and management information gathered |
Data analysis of the system |
Cornell |
March 2005 and ongoing |
Predictive equations developed for design use |
Compile information |
Ag Waste Initiative |
March 2005 and ongoing |
Fact sheets, case studies and articles are developed |
Spreadsheets for design |
Cornell |
June 2005 and ongoing |
Interactive websites with design calculations |
Information dissemination |
Ag Waste Initiative Partners, Cornell and NRAES |
March 2005 and ongoing |
Demonstrations, open houses, seminars, ag. Press print publications, and educational programs |
For Objective 1 – Several farms in Connecticut , Pennsylvania , New York , and Vermont are being analyzed to document the mass and nutrient flows in their manure handling operations. These farms include dairy farms using various composting methods from passive windrow composting operations to a biodrying operation, and a vermicomposting system. Other systems include three types of anaerobic digesters on ten different farms, electronic charging of manure, sand separation systems, BION systems, and a feasibility study of a sequencing batch reactor. Some of these farms will be evaluated for their energy use, or in the case of the anaerobic digestion, energy production. Economic data will be collected to determine the effect on the profitability of the whole farm operation. Odor reports from around the farms will be evaluated to determine the relative reduction in odor from these systems. Fecal coliform and Johnes will be evaluated in the dairy operations to determine the reductions in these representative pathogens.
For Objective 2 – Equations will be developed that can be used to define the nutrient flow, energy use and or production, costs, and benefits for the manure handling and treatment systems. Different parameters including weather, topography, labor costs, and material costs will be considered.
For Objective 3 - This information will be incorporated into a spreadsheet that can be used to estimate the factors farms need to know about the system before making a decision to install it. The spreadsheet will be installed on the web for use by farmers and their advisors. Written case studies and fact sheets and topical resource guides will also be developed and posted on the web to describe each system.
For Objective 4 – In our on-going project, providing technology transfer for manure management practices, we have developed very good contacts with the existing systems to provide audience appropriate information. We would continue to use demonstrations, open houses, seminars, ag. press print publications, and educational programs. These efforts will be used to encourage adoption of technically sound and appropriate methods for the northeast farming community.
This project will characterize the effects of alternative management strategies on dairy productivity, and the likely water quality impacts from nutrients, pathogens, and odors for dairy farms in the Northeast. The relative cost effectiveness of alternative manure management strategies useful in achieving environmental quality goals will be explored. Key knowledge gaps and research/education needs will be identified.
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Professor Norman Scott will serve as Principal Investigator for the partnership project. He will provide managerial oversight for the project and will lead the advisory committee, with the assistance of the technical staff. Professor Scott has been on the faculty of the Cornell Dept. of Biological & Environmental Engineering since 1962. After serving as the university's Vice-President for Research and Advanced Studies from 1989-98, he has focused on research in sustainable development. This research is directed to development of sustainable communities with emphasis on biologically derived fuels, renewable energy, recycling, managed ecosystems and industrial ecology. He is presently serving as the chair of an intensive technology transfer project aimed at manure management within NY State.
Peter Wright and Curt Gooch are part of the PRO-DAIRY Program, and are Biological and Environmental engineers working in manure management. They will assist Professor Scott and the advisory group in implementing the manure management tasks which are given priority. These individuals have extensive experience in both manure management and information delivery to farmers and their advisors.
Jean Bonhotal leads the composting team at the Cornell Waste Management Institute. She will assist Professor Scott and work with the PRO-DAIRY team to advance composting projects that use manure. Ms. Bonhotal is a composting expert and very skilled at delivering extension programs to the public.
Cornell will hire an Extension Associate with the technical expertise to develop resource materials and assist Professor Scott in administering the advisory committee. This person will compile information; write and edit resource materials; and manage implementation of the project. To fill this position, Cornell will seek an individual with experience in manure treatment and handling systems, and preferably with work experience in New York 's agricultural sector. The candidate must have excellent technical, writing, verbal communication, and organizational skills. Students and administrative assistants will be hired as needed to perform parts of the tasks.
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By creating an advisory group we will get buy-in from the stakeholders and potentially additional funding. By developing and delivering information on manure systems that have a positive impact on the economics and environment of the farm we will be increasing the sustainability of agriculture in New York State . The potential to attract additional outside funding will increase the likelihood of continued information delivery. By providing a continuous method of marketing the information, long-term impact on farms can be achieved. These impacts are increased profitability, lower energy costs, and reduced impact on the environment. This project will also increase bonds between various stakeholder groups.
The project's primary audience consists of farmers and their advisors. The information will be delivered in multiple forms such as: demonstrations, open houses, seminars, agricultural press publications, and educational programs. Using Natural Resources, Agricultural and Engineering Service (NRAES) to continually market the materials and maintenance of a web site through Cornell's server will keep the material available for a long time. The emphasis will be on using existing systems within the partnership of the stakeholders.
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This project will measure its success by the number of farms that adopt manure handling and treatment systems that meet the objective of the farm for profitability and the objective of society for environmental sustainability.
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