Swine and Poultry and Air Quality

I realized my dairy bias is really showing through in this blog so in an effort to try to expand my horizons I found a nice article on air quality concerns related to swine and poultry. This is another article from the Manure Du Jour series hosted last year. Another series of Manure Du Jour will be starting up again the first of the year so stay tuned for the schedule.

What are the major sources of greenhouse gas from swine and poultry operations?

The majority of methane and nitrous oxide from swine and poultry operations is emitted from buildings, manure storage, and land application of manure.

What strategies are available to reduce greenhouse gas?

A number of the strategies shown below reduce the potential for GHG emissions and in some cases, the amount of manure nutrients.

• Reducing the amount of waste excreted from the animal decreases the potential for formation of greenhouse gases during manure storage.
• Healthy herds use feed efficiently, and can reduce nitrogen excretion by ten percent compared to unhealthy herds.
• Animals with genetic lines predisposed to high feed efficiency also excrete fewer nutrients in urine and feces.
• Split-sex feeding enables producers to feed each sex closer to its nutritional requirements.
• Phase feeding allows producers to better match nutrients to the changing growth requirements.
• Enzymes, such as phytase, improve the digestibility of protein and reduce nitrogen excretion in manure. A low protein diet can reduce both fecal nitrogen and carbon dioxide production.
• Wet-dry feeders increase efficiency by reducing the amount of feed required to achieve a desired weight gain

What are the EPA reporting requirements for greenhouse gas from animal agriculture?
The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed national reporting of greenhouse gas emissions. Under these reporting requirements, large-, direct emitters of 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxice equivalents or more must report GHG emissions to the EPA. Only emissions from manure management systems are expected to fall under these reporting requirements.

View the “Air Quality Nutrition and Greenhouse Gases” epi­sode of Manure Du Jour on the Penn State Agriculture and Environment Web site: aec.cas.psu.edu/news/webinar_archives.asp. Special thanks are given to Dr. Wendy Powers, Departments of Animal Science and Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, Michigan State University, for presenting the information on this topic.

Update on Chesapeake Bay TMDL

I went to a listening session on the Chesapeake Bay TMDL yesterday and things are getting a little clearer.

The current state of things is:

• Pennsylvania contributes 41% of N and 24% of P to the bay.
• Agriculture in Pennsylvania contributes 52% of the N and 50% of the P.
• The bay can handle 200 million lbs of N per year and 15 million lbs of P per year.
  
• The target loads for PA are 73.6 million lbs of N and 3.16 million lbs of P.
  
• The current loads as of 2008 are 118 million lbs of N and 4 million lbs of P.

How is the TMDL going to work? They are dividing the Chesapeake Bay into 92 segments (only two segments in Pennsylvania) based on watersheds. Total allowable loads of N and P will be rationed out to the states and then the states will decide how to rations those loads out even further to non-point and point source pollutors. The division of nutrient loading amongest the states is that the worst waterways are expected to do the most. From the view here in Lancaster County, we will be expected to do a lot! However, the good news is that we will get credit for all the good practices we have already implemented.

Cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay is going to be, and has been, a huge undertaking, but if we can get all 17 million people who live is the watershed to do there own small part it will be a lot easier.

If you are interested in learning more about the Chesapeake Bay TMDL check out the EPA website epa.gov/chesapeakebayTMDL

Draft Strategy for Protecting and Restoring the Chesapeake Bay

The draft strategy for the Chesapeake Bay just came out today and although I haven't read all 99 pages yet the summary version gave some good insights into what might be in the full draft. For those of you who haven't heard about this, in May 2009 President Obama released an executive order stating that the Chesapeake Bay is a priority for the federal government. The strategy for the bay is very comprehensive and supports three main areas:

• Restore Clean Water
• Conserve treasured places and restore habitats, fish, and wildlife
• Adapt to the impacts of climate change

These actions will be achieved through the following means:

• Empower local efforts
• Decision-making through science
• New era of federal leadership

The main strategy is to develop a TMDL for the entire bay that will set pollutant limits for N, P, and sediment. Agriculture will play a big part in the restoration of the bay and will likely face greater pressure to reduce N, P, and sediment contributions to local waterways. It is unclear what the new world might look like for agriculture, but the more proactive we can be the better. Below is a link to the Chesapeake Bay Executive Order web site that has the full report and a shorter summary. There is a 60 day comment period on this report so get involved.

http://executiveorder.chesapeakebay.net/

Water and Poo...

Although I try to not get too deep on this blog the link below to a YouTube video is a nice break in an otherwise rough year. The farmer who put together this video has a lot of other links on, and is doing a great job of getting his message out to a new audience. I commend him for taking the time and effort to try to educate folks in a way that will get their attention without being controversial.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAUw9GO6tgE&feature=channel

Next Step In Bay Clean-up Coming

Last week at the Mid-Atlantic Water Program meeting I heard a nice update on the Chesapeake Bay Executive Order. A previous post discussed some of the issues around the 202 reports that were released earlier this fall and the TMDL that is being developed for the bay. The executive order and the TMDL are not necessarily connected, but the goals of each coincide and the process for complying with both will be similar.

From the standpoint of the excutive order the next step is the release of the 203 reports that are due out November 9th. These reports will describe more specifcially what the upcoming process will be and the goals of the executive order. There will be a 60 day comment period on these reports and they will become law in May 2010. The comment period on these reports will be very important because they have been developed with little input from the states, which means that the agencies within the federal government are really driving this process. It is anticipated that these reports will request increased federal funding to reach the goals, which is great, but will also require increased regulation of CAFOs.

The increased CAFO regulation could take on many forms from expanding the definition of a CAFO to include more operations, lower thresholds for current CAFOs, and attention to details that thus far have not necessarily been well inforced. For example, any storm water leaving a facility that houses animals can be considered a "discharge". There may also be more emphasis on practices that are done for no other reason than improving water quality (i.e. buffer strips).

This executive order and TMDL are very bold changes in regards to the Chesapeake Bay and any farmer or ag industry professional needs to be following this process closely because it will impact farming in the watershed.

Manure Application

Manure Du Jour is a weekly webinar series hosted by the Agriculture and Environment Center at Penn State. Topics include discussions about nutrient management, and reducing the potential for nutrient emissions to air and water. The following is a nice summary of manure application concerns that were addressed during a previous Manure Du Jour webinar.

What environmental challenges are associated with land application of manure?
Land application of manure presents both systemic- and short term challenges. Under the current agriculture structure in Pennsylvania in which large quantities of feed are imported, farmers do not have an adequate amount of land to assimilate the sheer volume of nutrients on the farm and balanced cycling of nutrients cannot be achieved. The net result is an over abundance of nutrients in soils, presenting near term and long term challenges for ongoing farm production and a reservoir of nutrients that can move across- and through the soil via surface- and groundwater to local streams and rivers.

What are the benefits of no-till vs. tilled soils?
No-till practices offer several benefits to soil health over conventional tilling.
• Soil erosion and nutrient loss from erosion is reduced
• Soil quality is improved
• Biological activity in soil is higher
• Soil surface residue is retained
However, no-till practices are at odds with the environmental benefits of incorporating spread manure into the soil. Incorporating manure into the soil:
• Reduces ammonia volatilization
• Reduces runoff of water-soluble phosphorous
• Decreases odors.

How can the best of both no-till and manure incorporation be achieved?
New technologies have been developed that incorporate manure while still retaining the benefits of no-till practices. These technologies deposit manure into the sub-surface with minimal disruption to the soil and include a shallow disc injector, high pressure manure injector, and aerator with banded manure. Use of these practices can reduce ammonia emissions, odor, and loss of water-soluble phosphorous as well as maintain the soil health associated with no-till practices.

Related Resources
View the “Water Quality-Land Application” epi¬sode of Manure Du Jour on the Penn State Agriculture and Environment Web site: aec.cas.psu.edu/news/webinar_archives.asp