09/16/24 - 98 New Stories - REAL Environmental & Conservation Leadership In PA: http://tinyurl.com/2zvd7hju
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Mapping Tool Useful For Manure Management On Pennsylvania Farms
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Pennsylvania farms that are developing Manure Management Plans now have a new tool to make this task much easier.
All Pennsylvania farms that produce or use manure must have a written plan to prevent manure runoff to streams and other water bodies from land application, barnyards, spillage, storage overflow or leakage.
These plans must include maps detailing field boundaries, acreages, stream and water features, wells, sinkholes, manure storage, application setbacks and buffers, soils, and more. With the PAOneStop program, farmers or consultants may generate detailed maps with aerial imagery, calculate field acreages, and delineate manure application setbacks.
Rick Day, of Pennsylvania Cooperative Extension, explained that these field acreage calculations will be useful to the farms in many other ways. "Accurate field acreage measurements are critical to estimate chemical, fertilizer and manure applications, or to determine yields," he added.
Day reported that 1,209 people have established accounts to map 19,525 fields on 2,956 farms, and "we are getting very positive feedback from farmers that the system is definitely working." It doesn't require specialized software and the maps are stored online for future access or changes. He emphasized, "All individual farm information is securely protected and not shared with anyone without their consent."
PAOneStop will become even more useful this summer when it includes a component for Erosion and Sediment Control Planning to help farmers meet state and federal requirements. This will integrate soil type, topography and climate information to calculate soil loss on a field by field basis across crop rotations.
Users will be able to modify conservation and crop management practices to compare the benefits for soil loss reduction and water quality, and make sure that they are meeting requirements for erosion and sediment control.
Penn State Cooperative Extension is conducting workshops throughout the state, so contact your local Extension Office if you are interested. For more information, see the PAOneStop program website or call toll-free 877/722-4724.
(Reprinted from the April/May issue of the Bay Bound newsletter published by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. To receive your copy, send an email to: member@cbf.org.)
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4/23/2012 |
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