Higher costs for commercial fertilizer are sending more growers looking for ways to save by switching to manure and poultry litter, according to a spot check by Green Markets.
It may not be the case in every state, but Ohio reports the alternatives have become so popular that now there’s more demand than supply. Kevin Elder, executive director of the Department of Agriculture’s livestock permitting program, advises GM, “Some large farms have contracted every pound they produce to green farmers.”
Elder adds that the drier the manure the higher value, with some dry poultry manure – which he calculates contains as much NPK and micronutrients as $75 in commercial fertilizer – going for as much as $15 per ton. Swine liquids don’t have a marketing value, but Elder believes they’re worth $40 to $45 per thousand gallons as a commercial fertilizer replacement. He says the state’s certified applicator program, which didn’t exist before 2002, has 50 registered and another 50 in the process of completing requirements – and he has 13 more applications on his desk that were received since the February training session.
Minnesota also has more than 300 licensed applicators in a program that requires renewal every three years, according to Joe Spitzmueller, supervisor of the Department of Agriculture’s licensing certification unit. He adds that the figure is increased by unlicensed applicators allowed to work under supervision of a license-holder.
In Iowa, Gene Tinker, animal feeding operations coordinator for the Department of Natural Resources, says manure-hauling businesses are flourishing in his state, with its many livestock operations. He explains that manure has become more attractive because it generally costs about $50 less an acre than commercial fertilizer, depending on what the farmer had been using. In 2005 there were 1,385 haulers in Iowa, and last year that number rose to 1,447. One of them, who has operated a hauling business for 28 years, reports his sales increased as much as 15 percent in the past year, mostly because of the higher demand and the growing number of large livestock farms.
But there doesn’t appear to be any significant movement away from commercial fertilizer in Illinois. “I don’t have any hard statistics,” offers Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association President Jean Payne, “but we have not sensed any major shifts to organic fertilizer, mostly because it does not typically meet the nitrogen target for many farmers.” Calls to retailers in Brimfield and Monroe also brought negative responses. One of them, Alan Knobloch at Akron Services, stated, “We don’t have enough livestock around us to even consider doing that.”
Tracking usage is difficult in some other states like Kansas, Missouri, and Wisconsin, which don’t regulate plain manure sales or applicators. The Kansas Department of Agriculture does, however, require a nutrient management plan from swine operations showing adequate acreage is available to apply the manure, which could even include the neighbors’ farms. Randy Walker, crop production manager at Oswego’s Bartlett Cooperative, reports some of his customers changing over to poultry litter being brought in from Oklahoma. “It’s affected our sales somewhat,” he adds, “but I’d say it’s been minimal at best.”
Joe Slater with the Fertilizer/Ag Lime Control Services at the University of Missouri comments, “I am not aware of any states that regulate unmanipulated (or raw) manure as a fertilizer, as it is exempted in fertilizer laws. There was a time when we were attempting to move in that direction, but that has not happened.”
Neither does Wisconsin have a handle on how much unregulated manure is being used for fertilizer. But Jim VandenBrook, water quality section chief with the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Services, is certain that it’s not a small amount. “Livestock and crop producers clearly understand the fertilizer value of manure and have a variety of private contracts and other arrangements for its utilization,” VandenBrook points out.
Manipulated manure (dried, ground, or pelletized manures supplemented with other nutrients) is a different matter because it’s regulated as fertilizer. The state licenses sellers, who must also pay annual fertilizer tonnage fees unless the manure is applied to land under a state-approved nutrient management plan. As of 2005 there were only four licensed companies in the state, but that may change when the 2006 numbers come out later this year. In addition, Wisconsin is requiring all farms to have nutrient management plans by next Jan. 1.
TFI tracks only dried manure in the Commercial Fertilizers Report, according to spokeswoman Harriet Wegmeyer, but the latest figures for 2004 and 2005 show only slight variation. Wegmeyer explained that TFI has always encouraged the use of a balanced nutrient management plan that includes the use of on-farm manure, cautioning that manure alone cannot meet the nutrient needs of soil to grow crops.
In the meantime, Oklahoma is getting legislation declaring that manure and other animal waste should not be considered hazardous material, while at the same time a similar effort is gaining momentum in the U.S. Congress. After resolving objections from Attorney General Drew Edmondson, the Oklahoma bill passed the State Senate, and a companion measure is on its way to being approved in the House. Edmondson had complained that the action would hinder his suit against Arkansas poultry companies claiming chicken litter polluted important waterways, but the bill’s sponsor and the Oklahoma Farm Bureau said Edmondson doesn’t have anything to worry about. Sen. Ron Justice declared that agriculture would face a tremendous problem and burden if manure were considered as hazardous. He said there is a real concern in the industry that animal waste could be lumped into a category with nuclear waste when “it is really a plant nutrient.”
“It should not have any effect on the litigation since it’s already been filed. But it may prevent future claims under state law,” Ericka McPherson, Farm Bureau director of national affairs, told Green Markets. McPherson said the Oklahoma language is different from that in the bills that have been re-introduced in Congress, but with the same objectives: to clarify that manure is not a hazardous waste and is beneficial in its use as fertilizer.
Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., ranking Republican member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, joined Sens. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., and Pete Domenici, R-NM, in co-sponsoring S. 807, which would clarify that manure is not a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, also known as Superfund, and the Environmental Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA). “It’s disturbing that some states and environmental groups are trying to apply federal toxic waste laws to normal, routine agricultural operations,” said Chambliss. “Manure is not a toxic waste, and Congress never intended for toxic waste laws to apply to its routine production and use. This bill would protect farmers and ranchers from these novel lawsuits.” He added that continued uncertainty over the status of normal animal waste would discourage investment in technologies that convert livestock waste into energy and fertilizer.
A long list of livestock and farm groups supports the legislation, including the American Farm Bureau Federation, the American Meat Institute, CoBank, Dairy Farmers of America, the Farm Credit Council, The Fertilizer Institute, the Horse Council, the National Assn. of State Departments of Agriculture, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Assn., the National Chicken Council, the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, the National Farmers Union, the National Milk Producers Federation, the National Pork Producers Council, the National Turkey Federation, the National Corn Growers Assn., and state farm organizations.