MANURE MANAGEMENT
Managing a dairy farm or raising livestock includes sound manure, wastewater, and
leachate management. Manures are used for their nutrient content to enhance the growing of
crops. Proper management of manures is a science, and is an important aspect of farm
management. Technological upgrades, however, are a costly business.
Connecticut is able to offer technical and financial support to farm businesses in
their farm waste efforts through the "Partnership
for Assistance on Agricultural Waste Management Systems" (the
"Partnership"). This
partnership consists of the following cooperators: USDA Natural Resources Conservation
Service (NRCS), USDA Farm Service Agency, University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension
System, Connecticut Conservation Districts, the Connecticut Department of Environmental
Protection and the Connecticut Department of Agriculture.
Through this partnership, a farm business may obtain waste
management planning, structure design and qualify for financial assistance as well as help
in procuring required permits.
In cooperation with the "Partnership", the USDA
Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) provides cost sharing for agricultural
improvements that will help meet water quality and other environmental objectives. Based
on state priorities, EQIP offers 5 to 10 year contracts that provide incentive payments
and cost sharing for conservation practices. Cost sharing may pay up to 75% of the cost of
structures and up to 100% of certain management practices. Total funding is limited to
$10,000 per person per year and $50,000 for the length of the contract. Applications will
be ranked and reviewed by NRCS. All EQIP funding projects must meet NRCS technical
standards.
Another source of financing within the "Partnership" is
sometimes available through the Connecticut Department of Agriculture's Environmental
Assistance Program (EAP) for Connecticut farmers. This program allows for the Connecticut
Commissioner of Agriculture to reimburse any farmer for part of the costs that qualify
under the EAP in order to maintain compliance with a Connecticut Department of
Environmental Protection approved agricultural waste management plan. The total combined
federal and state grant available to a farmer shall be no more than 75% of the project
cost. A technical team will review and rank all applications. Each farm's application must
also be approved by the Connecticut Office of Policy and Management. The funds must be
used for a capital improvement and grants are subject to fund availability.
For information on the State of Connecticut and USDA programs that help farms to
protect the environment while managing their ag wastes, contact:
Connecticut Department of Agriculture
Environmental Assistance Program
765 Asylum Avenue
Hartford, CT 06105
Phone: (860) 713-2511
USDA Farm Service Agency
344 Merrow Road
Tolland, CT 06084
Phone: (860) 871-2944
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
344 Merrow Road
Tolland, CT 06084
Phone: (860) 871-4011
Fax: (860) 871-4054
BIOMASS ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES
Biomass energy includes a wide variety of technologies that use bioenergy feedstocks,
such as manures, cordwood and waste wood products to produce energy.
AGRICULTURAL PLASTICS
A copy of the 1998 Agricultural and Horticultural Study formerly
found on this page can be obtained by writing to the Agricultural
Technology Program, Connecticut Department of Agriculture, 765 Asylum
Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105, or email at Jane.Slupecki@po.state.ct.us
A 2001 USDA-RD study on agricultural plastics recycling
(also known as the Amidon study) is not available at this time. Contact the
Connecticut Nursery & Landscape Association for more information about upcoming opportunities to recycle agricultural
plastics.
In a USDA-RD supported feasibility study, Arthur Amidon,
Amidon Recycling, Wilton NH, found that it currently costs Connecticut
growers 10 – 50 cents/pound to remove the plastic and as much as 45
cents/pound for trucking and tipping fees to dispose of it.
With the baler, the grower may break even or possibly realize a small
profit, as some recyclers are willing to pay for clean plastic that is
needed for their products.
The Amidon study is the first step taken by a coalition
of nursery, greenhouse and florist association members in Connecticut to
look at the formation of a plastic recycling cooperative. The newly formed Connecticut Agricultural Businesses Cluster
(CAB) is spearheading the most recent efforts to get a voluntary, organized
statewide effort going.
Armed with this knowledge, Prides Corner, Lebanon,
decided to reduce their ag waste costs without using a baler, but rather
working with their local refuse firm, Willimantic Waste. Willimantic
provides dumpsters at the farm. Willimantic
then bales the plastics. A plastic recycling firm, Hershmann’s, picks up
the bales at Willimantic. Prides
Corner nets 2 cents per pound for their used plastics.
The Robert Baker Companies, West Suffield CT has been
working with one of the first Tiger Balers off the assembly line.
A crew of 5 people with the baler removed the plastic from six 300’
long hoophouses per hour. Bales are tied off and placed on pallets where they are later
picked up with a forklift and loaded onto a flatbed trailer for shipment.
A savings of 50% to 90% in the cost of removal of the
plastic cover from overwintering hoophouses has been achieved using the
Tiger Baler. The machine,
originally developed for mulch plastic removal on vegetable crops in
Florida, has been remodeled to pull the plastic film off the hoops without
touching the ground. The clean
plastic is formed into a 600-pound bale, which is convenient to ship to
recyclers where the material is made into lumber, growing containers and
other consumer products. At Baker nurseries, the baler replaces the
conventional system that uses a crew of 25 to 30 people to cut the film into
sections, bundle it up and transport it by trailer to a dumpster where it is
compacted with a bucket loader. Due
to the trapped air only 1000 - 2000 pounds of plastic can be placed in a
dumpster which costs $400 - $500.
There are two forms of the baler, similar to a hay
baler, a power-take-off drive (PTO) for $25,000 needing at least an 80
horsepower tractor; or, with an independent diesel engine for $35,000 that
can be pulled with a smaller 40 – 50 hp tractor. The baler is light enough
to be pulled by a pickup truck between farms. The baler appears to have
application for the removal of plastic from freestanding and
gutter-connected greenhouses. This
could save considerable time and cost in the disposal of this film.
In Connecticut good results were also obtained when it was
demonstrated for use in removing the mulch film and drip tape used for the
fumigation of tobacco fields.
To learn more about the new Connecticut Agricultural Businesses Cluster,
call Paul Gagnon, Executive Director at (860) 657-3029. Additional
information on the baler can be obtained from Dennis Sutton, Tiger Baler,
LLC, 411 65th St. Ct. N.W., Bradenton FL 34209.
Phone: 941/761-8293.
If interested, please email Ag Tech at: Jane.Slupecki@po.state.ct.us
Last modified: August 23, 2002
