Trends in Recoverable Manure Nutrients

Noel Gollehon USDA - NRCS

Robert Kellogg (retired, USDA – NRCS)

David Moffitt (retired, USDA – NRCS)

Presentation for SWCS Annual ConferenceLombard, Illinois

July 28, 2014

Goals of Presentation

• Provide some basic, fundamental information about livestock and manure nutrient production – At the National level and– Distribution across the Nation

• Look at the trends over a 25-year history (1982-2007) to see the changes in– Where animals are located. – Quantities of manure produced– Quantities of nutrients in the manure.

Sources of fertilizer nutrients

Manure Manure Commercial Commercial

Source: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1136

Background

• Nutrients added to the environment are a significant portion of the agricultural water quality discussion.– Manure is not everywhere, but where animals occur

the levels can be significant.• Provisions to improve manure management are

a component to almost every water quality improvement plan in animal production areas.

• EPA as a part of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), regulates a subset of Animal Feeding Operations (AFOs) termed CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations).

Data and Methods

• Data – Individual producer responses from the 1982–2007

Census of Agriculture data collection efforts– Data aggregated to protect individual responses– Start with 2.2 million farm observations

• Methods – Consistent approach over time, adjusted for

technological change– Approach built on methods used in Kellogg et al.,

2000 and Gollehon et al., 2001 reports

Estimation Approach

1. Number of animals reported by producers on the Census form, both inventory and sales.

2. Engineering coefficients (ASABE) of manure and manure nutrients produced by weight class of animals.

3. Using animal data and common production practices estimate the quantity of manure and manure nutrients produced by AFO, AFO-CAFO, and non-AFO farms.

4. Estimate the potential to utilize manure produced on the farm, based on the uptake of nutrients for on-farm crop production.

5. Estimate the potential to utilize manure produced in the county based on the uptake of nutrients for crop production.

6. Summarize for farm, county, HUC-6, State, and Nation

Findings

• Approach produces a lot of numbers!• Present some of the National-scale information today.• Present only the Nitrogen information. Matching

Phosphorus is calculated but time today is short. • Additional information is in the report under development

on this effort. It is at the review stage. • To prevent disclosure of individual farmer information,

not all information used in calculations will be available. • Please contact me if you would like to be notified when

the report is publically available.

Farm type distinctions & distribution

Farm type distinctions & distribution

Non-AFO

Non-AFO farms

Number of non-AFO farms with livestock

AFO Farm type definitions

• Large AFO-CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations)– 700 or more head of dairy cows, 1,000 or more head of fattened

cattle, 2,500 or more breeding hogs, 125,000 or more chicken broilers

• Medium AFO-CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations)– 200-700 head of dairy cows, 300-1,000 head of fattened cattle,

750-2,500 breeding hogs, 37,500-125,000 chicken broilers

• Small AFO– More than 35 AU (35,000 pounds of live animal weight) but

smaller than a Medium AFO-CAFO

• Very Small AFO– Less than 35 AU

AFO farms

Number of AFO farms, including AFO-CAFOs

Number of Animal Units

Number of Animal Units on AFO and non-AFO farms

Distribution of AFO farms and AU by size, including AFO-CAFOs

Size distribution of AFO farms and AU

Location of medium and large AFO-CAFOs and AUs

Farms, 2007 Animal Units, 2007

AFO AUs by animal type

Distribution of confined AUs by animal type, including AFO-CAFOs

Amount of manure nitrogen as excreted on non-AFOs and AFOs

Manure Nitrogen

Manure Nitrogen on AFOs

Amount of manure nitrogen as excreted for confined livestock on AFOs, by AFO farm type

Manure Nitrogen on AFOs

Distribution of manure nitrogen as excreted for confined livestock on AFOs, by AFO farm type

Amount of recoverable manure nitrogen, by AFO type

Recoverable Manure Nitrogen

Amount of recoverable manure nitrogen, by livestock type

Recoverable Manure Nitrogen

Location of recoverable manure from confined animals

Change in location of recoverable manure from confined animals, 1982-2007

1982-2007

Non-Recoverable Manure

• Report estimates non-recoverable manure nitrogen– Distributes non-recoverable into 6 types

– Estimate 31% of non recoverable is lost from AFOs during manure treatment, storage, collection, and transfer.

– Estimate 30% of non recoverable is lost from non-AFOs.

– Remaining 39% of non recoverable is lost to volatilization and a the non-recoverable fraction of manure on AFOs (cannot collect it all)

• Report also estimates non-recoverable manure phosphorus

Nitrogen Assimilative Capacity

Potential to apply manure nitrogen on cropland and pastureland assuming a 1.4 efficiency factor

Nitrogen Assimilative Capacity Location

Farm-level Excess Manure

Number of AFOs with farm-level excess manure, by AFO farm type

Farm-level Excess Nitrogen

Farm-level excess manure nitrogen, by AFO farm type

Farm-level Excess Manure Nitrogen

Change in Location of Farm-level Excess Manure Nitrogen, 1982-2007

County-level Excess Manure

Number of counties with county-level excess manure under the assumptions of the simulation model

County-level Excess Manure Nitrogen, 1982-2007

Conclusions

• Total animal weight (AU) about constant over 25 year period (1982-2007)– Only slight changes in total manure nutrients excreted

• Significant changes in quantity & location of recoverable manure nutrients. – Increase in concentration of animals and nutrients on

large CAFOs (lesser extent on medium CAFOs)

• Current permitting policy covers most recoverable nutrients– Estimate for Nitrogen – 78%– Estimate for Phosphorus – 85%– Policy permits a greater share of manure nutrients

now than if applied 25 years ago.

0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000

1982

2007

19822

20072

Million Pounds

Phosphorus

Not AFO & not recoverable AFO & not recoverableRecoverable Recoverable & Permitted

Nitrogen

Trends in Manure Nutrients

2007

1982

0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000

1982

2007

19822

20072

Million Pounds

Phosphorus

Not AFO & not recoverable AFO & not recoverableRecoverable Recoverable & Permitted

Nitrogen

Trends in Manure Nutrients

Improvements from technology Improvements from management

2007

1982

Thank you!

Noel GollehonNoel.Gollehon@wdc.usda.gov

301-504-1763USDA – NRCS

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination against its customers, employees, and applicants for employment on the bases of race, color, national origin, age, disability, sex, gender identity, religion, reprisal, and where applicable, political beliefs, marital status, familial or parental status, sexual orientation, or all or part of an individual's income is derived from any public assistance program, or protected genetic information in employment or in any program or activity conducted or funded by the Department. (Not all prohibited bases will apply to all programs and/or employment activities.)

Background interest by EPA

• EPA – As a part of the National Pollutant Discharge

Elimination System (NPDES), EPA regulates a subset of Animal Feeding Operations (AFOs) termed CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations).

– Technical manual (673 pages and 23MB)– Producers guide (69 pages and 1MB)– Guidance for CAFOs (231 pages and 6MB)– EPA Science Advisory Board states in a 2011 report:

• domestic animals produce 6.0 Tg (6 million tonnes) N/yr in manure and are the largest source of atmospheric ammonia nitrogen (1.6 Tg N/yr).

– http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/home.cfm?program_id=7

Manure Nitrogen on AFOs

Distribution of manure nitrogen as excreted for confined livestock on AFOs, by livestock type

Amount of manure phosphorus as excreted on non-AFOs and AFOs

Manure Phosphorus

Manure Phosphorus on AFOs

Amount of manure phosphorus as excreted for confined livestock on AFOs, by AFO farm type

Manure Phosphorus on AFOs

Distribution of manure phosphorus as excreted for confined livestock on AFOs, by AFO farm type

Manure Phosphorus on AFOs

Distribution of manure phosphorus as excreted for confined livestock on AFOs, by livestock type

Recoverable Manure Phosphorus

Recoverable manure phosphorus, by AFO farm type

Recoverable Manure Phosphorus

Recoverable manure phosphorus, by livestock type

Phosphorus Assimilative Capacity

Potential to apply manure phosphorus on cropland and pastureland assuming a 1.05 efficiency factor