A MAS model for optimizing the spatial aspects of livestock production and manure abatement

As a consequence of the EU Nitrates Directive many countries have developed policies to regulate manure production and manure emission on land. Farmers have three allocation options: spreading manure on own land, transporting manure to other farmers’ land and processing manure. To better understand the manure problem as an allocation problem a spatial mathematical programming multi-agent model has been developed. The model is applied for Flanders (Belgium), a highly concentrated livestock area. Using this model, policy alternatives and their cost efficiency can be evaluated. These simulations result in advice on location and type of manure processing and an indicator which creates transparency in the manure and processing market

The Economics of Manure Utilization: Model and Application

A model of manure utilization is developed and applied to four types of transportable manure. Model results highlight important response differences among manure types and generally illustrate the diseconomies of manure production. For example, as manure production increases, manure value decreases and excess phosphate applications increase, thereby increasing the potential for phosphorus runoff. Policy scenarios limiting the manure application rate reduce manure value and excess phosphate application. Increasing the ratio of land using manure increases manure value while reducing excess phosphate application. Buildup of soil nutrients reduces manure value, but either increases or decreases excess phosphate application depending on the scenario.linear programming, manure application, manure transportation, manure utilization, manure value, optimization, Farm Management,

Livestock farmers' attitude towards manure separation technology as future strategy

In this paper, an ordered probit model is used to assess the factors that affect the probability of livestock farmers having plans to adopt manure separation technology in the future. A survey, based on a postal and computerized questionnaire of representative dairy and pig farms in the Netherlands was carried out in 2009. The results show that age of farmer and a variable which accounts for the interaction between size and location of the farm are important variables explaining the probability of farmers having plans to adopt manure separation technology. Furthermore, farmers who agreed that future application norms are the driving force for considering adoption of manure separation technology were more likely to consider manure separation as the right strategy for their farm. This outcome implies that farmers are considering manure separation as a strategy to survive the more stringent future application norms. Policy implications are that young farmers with bigger Dutch size unit located in manure regions where there is oversupply of manure are more likely to adopt manure separation technology in the futur

Study and assessment of compost of different organic mixtures and effect of organic compost tea on plant diseases

Four compost treatments representing different organic mixtures were studied: - Treatment T1: 100% cattle manure - Treatment T2: 80% cattle manure and 20% sheep manure - Treatment T3: 70% cattle manure, 20% sheep manure and 10% poultry manure. - Treatment T4: 50% cattle manure, 20% sheep manure, 20% poultry manure and 10% crushed wheat straw. The results showed that the temperature was higher for the 4th treatment which was richer in carbon than the other treatments. The initial alkaline pH decreases for all treatments and approaches neutrality at the end of composting process, essentially for the first treatment. There is also a decrease in the carbon / nitrogen ratio. At the maturity stage, a compost tea was prepared from different composts after five days extraction period. The four compost teas were tested on different plant pathogens: Fusarium roseum var sambucinum, Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium solani var coeruleum, Phytophtora erythroseptica and Rhizoctonia solani. All the treatments were efficient against these pathogens and especially the 4th treatment which considerably reduces also the dry rot of Fusarium solani in potato tubers during storage. This is considered an important result since Fusarium solani seems to be the most important pathogen in Tunisian soils. Our studies should be carried out in order to determine the better combination of organic mixtures, the better method of compost tea extraction (aerobic or anaerobic), the optimal period of extraction and doses to be used

The impact of concentrated pig production in Flanders : a spatial analysis

Historically concentrated livestock production and, consequently, manure production and management in Belgium have resulted in severe environmental impacts. One major impact, nitrate leaching from soil to surface water, is being tackled through the European Nitrates Directive by imposing strict fertilization standards. However, another significant impact of manure management is the emission of greenhouse gasses (GHG - CO2, CH4, NH3 and N2O) into the air, thereby contributing to global warming. Calls have been made to reduce the high manure pressure and related environmental effects in Belgium by relocating and more evenly spreading livestock production. This paper explores the spatial spreading of CO2-equivalent emissions from livestock production in Belgium and attempt to answer the following question: ‘Can spatial reallocation of livestock production in Belgium reduce the impact of GHG emissions?’. This question is translated into several research objectives: 1) conduct an economic (cost minimization) and environmental (GHG minimization) optimization for 3 manure management scenarios, 2) determine the main differences between both approaches, and 3) determine the marginal spatial impact on CO2 emissions of a decrease in manure pressure (i.e., increased spreading of pig production). To conduct the analysis, a model was developed that builds on the spatial mathematical programming multi-agent manure allocation model developed by Van der Straeten et al. (2010). Three options for manure management are inserted: transport of raw manure from nutrient excess to nutrient deficit areas, biological treatment of manure (manure processing) and manure separation. The model optimizes, at municipal level, either the cost-efficiency, either the environmental effect of the manure market in Belgium based on Belgian fertilization standards. While cost-efficiency is calculated based on transport distances and cost of manure separation and processing, GHG emissions, and hence, carbon footprint, are determined based on a life cycle analysis type calculation. The results of the model simulations show that, while the economic optimum is reached by maximizing the transport of raw manure until fertilization standards are fulfilled and subsequently separating and processing the excess manure, the environmental optimum, from a carbon footprint point of view, is reached by separating all manure as this option has the lowest CO2 emissions, mainly due to the limited manure storage time. Moreover, the analyses indicate that rearrangement of the spatial spreading of livestock production in Belgium will not substantially decrease CO2 emissions. As manure storage is the main contributor to the carbon footprint, solutions should rather lie in changing these storage systems

Circular 47

Manure handling is one of the most unappreciated chores associated with livestock enterprises. It is also the most difficult problem to solve in a totally satisfactory manner because physical characteristics of manure usually change with the daily weather, seasons, and ration. All handling systems have their limitations, and none works perfectly all the time. The problem of manure handling is most easily solved if cows are confined in covered housing because physical characteristics of the manure remain more uniform under cover — no surface water, less drying and freezing. Improper design of manure-handling systems may lead to higher costs for redesign than new facilities would cost. Even with new facilities, manure handling may present major problems if systems are inadequate for the particular environmental conditions of the area. In continuing efforts to improve livestock waste-handling systems, new methods and equipment are being used. Waste-system components, related closely to dairy-manure handling, deal with removal of waste from buildings and storage facilities that are separated from the livestock housing facility. The major systems provide for collection, transfer, storage, and land application, and are divided into two groups — liquid and semisolid manurehandling systems. Many manure-handling systems are used in the United States. Not all of these systems, however, are adapted to northern climates. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation currently has no code of practice for livestock waste facilities. The agency, however, must be notified for approval of waste-treatment systems used in livestock enterprises. The systems described in this report comply with current state codes in the northern United States and Canada, and most are adaptable to the environmental conditions of Alaska.Introduction -- Liquid-Manure Systems -- Semisolid-Manure Systems -- Conclusions -- Bibliograph

Economic aspects of manure management and practices for sustainable agriculture in Turkey

Turkish livestock sector plays very important role in the Turkish GDP and the use of manure affects the environment but the farming sector want the farmers to employ the use of more integrated manure practice. The study assessed the economic impacts of integrated manure and chemical fertilizer used and the manure management practices sustainable for Turkish agriculture. Turkey is dependent on foreign countries not only for energy but for chemical fertilizers raw materials. High price of chemical fertilizers is one of the negative impact, manure substitution will lead to stable macro-economy, and environmental friendly economy and agricultural productivity will also impacts. To achieve these impacts, some manure practices suitable for sustainable rural development in Turkey was assessed

Cooperation in manure-based biogas production networks: An agent-based modeling approach

Biogas production from manure has been proposed as a partial solution to energy and environmental concerns. However, manure markets face distortions caused by considerable unbalance between supply and demand and environmental regulations imposed for soil and water protection. Such market distortions influence the cooperation between animal farmers, biogas producers and arable land owners causing fluctuations in manure prices paid (or incurred) by animal farmers. This paper adopts an agent-based modeling approach to investigate the interactions between manure suppliers, i.e., animal farmers, and biogas producers in an industrial symbiosis case example consisting of 19 municipalities in the Overijssel region (eastern Netherlands). To find the manure price for successful cooperation schemes, we measure the impact of manure discharge cost, dimension and dispersion of animal farms, incentives provided by the government for bioenergy production, and the investment costs of biogas plants for different scales on the economic returns for both actor types and favorable market conditions. Findings show that manure exchange prices may vary between −3.33 €/t manure (i.e., animal farmer pays to biogas producer) and 7.03 €/t manure (i.e., biogas producer pays to animal farmer) and thanks to cooperation, actors can create a total economic value added between 3.73 €/t manure and 39.37 €/t manure. Hence, there are cases in which animal farmers can profitably be paid, but the presence of a supply surplus not met by demand provides an advantage to arable land owners and biogas producers in the price contracting phase in the current situation in the Netherlands

Carbon and nutrient losses during manure storage under traditional and improved practices in smallholder crop-livestock systems - evidence from Kenya

In the absence of mineral fertiliser, animal manure may be the only nutrient resource available to smallholder farmers in Africa, and manure is often the main input of C to the soil when crop residues are removed from the fields. Assessments of C and nutrient balances and cycling within agroecosystems or of greenhouse gas emissions often assume average C and nutrient mass fractions in manure, disregarding the impact that manure storage may have on C and nutrient losses from the system. To quantify such losses, in order to refine our models of C and nutrient cycling in smallholder (crop-livestock) farming systems, an experiment was conducted reproducing farmers’ practices: heaps vs. pits of a mix of cattle manure and maize stover (2:3 v/v) stored in the open air during 6 months. Heaps stored under a simple roof were also evaluated as an affordable improvement of the storage conditions. The results were used to derive empirical models and graphs for the estimation of C and nutrient losses. Heaps and pits were turned every month, weighed, and sampled to determine organic matter, total and mineral N, P and K mass fractions. Soils beneath heaps/pits were sampled to measure mineral N to a depth of 1 m, and leaching tube tests in the laboratory were used to estimate P leaching from manure. After 6 months, ca. 70% remained of the initial dry mass of manure stored in pits, but only half of or less of the manure stored in heaps. The stored manure lost 45% of its C in the open air and 69% under roof. The efficiencies of nutrient retention during storage varied between 24–38% for total N, 34–38% for P and 18–34% for K, with the heaps under a roof having greater efficiencies of retention of N and K. Laboratory tests indicated that up to 25% of the P contained in fresh manure could be lost by leaching. Results suggest that reducing the period of storage by, for example, more frequent application and incorporation of manure into the soil may have a larger impact on retaining C and nutrient within the farm system than improving storage condition

Fertilization: trade-offs between manure abatement and plant productivity

In 2005, 30% of the Flemish farms faced a manure excess, while at aggregated level still 9.7% of the emission rights were unused. This means that, despite the various possibilities, Flemish farmers do not succeed in an effective exchange of manure between farms. In current paper is shown how inorganic fertilizer use influences the use and exchange of organic nitrogen. Because of the mutual interdependency between organic and inorganic nitrogen emission rights (or quota), inorganic nitrogen use limits the emission rights for organic nitrogen. Utilisation of these emission rights are analysed as a trade-offs choice between plant productivity (use of inorganic nitrogen) and manure disposal, as the major abatement alternative of manure production. Farmers still prefer inorganic fertilizers because of their effect on plant productivity and income. However, by changing the quota rent of organic nitrogen, the fertilization behaviour can be influenced. A higher quota rent of organic nitrogen would increase the use of manure. This trade-off behaviour seriously influences effectiveness of policies. When the objective is to lower the total nitrogen use, a mere reduction of organic quota can partially be counteracted by a higher inorganic nitrogen use. When the objective is to better spread the manure, increasing the quota rent for deficit farms will increase their acceptance of manure