Historically, reduced tillage — defined as tillage that maintains plant surface residue and where nutrients are surface applied — was touted as the solution for phosphorus loss from agricultural

I assumed to have seen everything of importance after 45 years of nutrient management. That changed in 2022. About a decade ago, I assisted a significant client in siting and permitting a fully i

In the last 20 years, many states have added requirements for record keeping of manure applications on farm fields. This is to make sure that applications are used effectively as plant nutrients and t

I’ve written numerous articles and made many presentations extolling the virtues of manure. Yes, we know it has some unpleasant characteristics and can be dangerous when not respected, but when well

When a window of opportunity opens to empty out a farm’s manure storage, the yard is suddenly filled with a buzz of activity. Soon, filled tankers will head down the country roads to move manure

Large-bore traveling gun and center pivot irrigation systems have been used to apply treated lagoon water, liquid animal manure, and untreated slurry from swine and dairy farms

Last month, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf approved the state’s budget, which dedicates $13.6 million to the Pennsylvania Farm Bill for the next fiscal year. In 2019, Pennsylvania became the first

It lurks beneath the surface of every manure lagoon or anaerobic digester. Sludge, an unavoidable part of manure storage and treatment, is a manure by-product that is lower in organic matter

Advice can be a tricky thing. Opinions and recommendations may be offered with the best of intentions, but the person on the receiving end could interpret the sentiments differently. The best advice o

Manure handling starts with the animal, but the end user is an essential part of the equation

The manure and bedding material removed from a bedded-pack barn can be a valuable nutrient source for crops, but it is bulky. For this reason, this manure is often applied close to the farm

For years, cover crops have been touted as a way to protect water quality among other benefits, such as soil health, a forage source, and carbon sequestration

I recently helped a client work through a regulatory quagmire. The violation was a storage pond freeboard exceedance. The resolution was application of manure on cropland — two months later. An anti

The concept of a manureshed was developed to describe the amount of cropland needed to use the manure nutrients produced by a livestock operation without negative environmental impacts

I read an article in the Wall Street Journal recently about how food is produced and labeled. The following statement raised my ire: “Confinement livestock operations have polluted ground and surfac

Aaron Augustian said he and his brother, Todd, were looking to try something different with manure application when they were asked to join the Great Lakes Demonstration Farms Network a few years ago

There is no certainty when it comes to farming. The only thing we can really plan on is that next year will not be the same as this year. The agricultural markets are a prime example of this. Com

When discussing feedlot profitability, producers may often talk about the cost of gain or break-even costs. If manure enters the discussion, it is often referred to as an expense

Mitigating phosphorus loss from cropland is often a balancing act, with numerous environmental and management factors interacting simultaneously

One of the enigmas of manure management is how to account for the nitrogen it provides after application. Some discount it altogether, assuming it has either all been lost or simply “unavailable.”