The Got Manure? Enhancing Environmental and Economic Sustainability Conference and Tradeshow will be held March 28-29 in Liverpool, New York. Dairy producers and their advisers, agribusiness professionals, project developers, dairy scientists, agricultural and environmental engineers, farm managers, financial advisers and lenders, agricultural economists, extension educators, policymakers, regulatory agencies and utility companies are all invited to attend this two-day national event to learn about anaerobic digestion and other viable manure handling, treatment and management systems.

There are many possible integrated manure handling and treatment systems composed of individual components strategically positioned to achieve manure and environmental management related goals of the dairy farm. Each has challenges and benefits that must be considered regarding the day-to-day operation, efficacy and impact on the farm’s bottom line. A host of speakers will discuss ways to maximize these benefits and make your manure work for you.

Speakers at the conference will include:
• Curt Gooch, Cornell University PRO-DAIRY
• Kurt Hjort-Gregersen, Denmark
• Andrew Wedel, P.E., McLanahan Corp.
• Norma McDonald, Organic Waste Systems
• Mike McCloskey, Fair Oaks Dairy
• Dean Doornink, Jon-Dee Farm
• And many more.

Curt Gooch with Cornell University's PRO-DAIRY, who will open the conference with a session about anaerobic digestion, explains why his topic is important and what he hopes attendees can take away from his presentation.

“Anaerobic digestion is a viable method to treat dairy manure and has many well-known positive benefits including odor reduction of post-digested manure, both while in long-term storage and during and soon after land application; beneficial use of the resulting biogas to generate electricity and/or heat farm buildings; and reduced net greenhouse gas emissions from the farmstead.

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"As beneficial, but somewhat less mentioned, is the advantages of anaerobic digestion, including crop response to nutrients applied in a timely fashion for crop uptake, easy and less costly effluent pumping to long distances or to higher elevation areas, and pre-treatment for advanced manure treatment processes to separate nitrogen and phosphorous into separate streams. So, anaerobic digestion fits well into almost all integrated manure treatment and handling systems, making it the cornerstone of manure treatment,” Gooch says.

“The target audience for this conference is farmers and their advisers, agribusiness professionals, project developers, dairy scientists, agricultural and environmental engineers, farm managers, financial advisers and lenders, agricultural economists, extension educators, policymakers, and regulatory agencies.

"My hope is that all farmer attendees will get something from the conference proceeding papers and oral presentations that will challenge them to think about how they are currently handling manure relative to changes that could potentially be made resulting in possible improvements for their businesses and the environment.

"For the others, the goal is that they challenge themselves, as well to see how they can apply information gained, to help farmers from the perspectives that they provide services or equipment. For the public employee sector, the goal is to see what policy changes may be helpful for agriculture to improve environmental stewardship and sustainability,” he concludes.

Make plans to arrive a day early and join one of two optional tours of select New York on-farm integrated manure handling/treatment systems with anaerobic digesters. These tours are both on March 27 and you have the option of a full- or half-day tour.

Co-hosting the conference are the Cornell PRO-DAIRY Program, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – AgSTAR, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, and the USDA – Natural Resources Conservation Service. In addition, PRO-DAIRY is organizing a tradeshow to be held in conjunction the event. (Click here to register for the tradeshow.)

The conference will be held at the Holiday Inn Syracuse-Liverpool, 441 Electronics Parkway, Liverpool, NY 13088. Click here for registration information. PD

—Compiled by PD staff