Animal Feeding Operations (AFOs) in Connecticut voluntarily develop Nutrient Management Plans (CNMPs) with USDA-NRCS and the University's Cooperative Extension System. The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) provides funding for the development of the NMPs, which are designed to meet current environmental guidelines to minimize negative effects of animal wastes. Farmers often complain, however, that managing the manure to meet environmental guidelines as recommended by NMPs reduces their profitability due to greater hauling cost for the manure. The major concern about profitability is whether the cost of hauling manure to the fields exceeds the benefit from the fertilizer replacement value of the manure. Another concern is that excess on-farm manure production and the high P content of the soil in some fields causes some manure to be applied to fields that do not need nutrients, and therefore there is no economic benefit from the manure application. The objective of this study is to evaluate the change in profit to farmers from implementing NMPs. A partial budget analysis will be conducted to compare the profitability of nutrient management by farmers' traditional practices with the profitability of NMPs developed by scientists for dairy farms in Connecticut for three to five years.
See more of Manure, Compost and Bio-solid Use
See more of S08 Nutrient Management & Soil & Plant Analysis
See more of The ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meetings (November 6-10, 2005)