Environmental Management System for Manure
Livestock and poultry manure, when applied to land as nutrient sources, contain a wide range of potentially water-impairing constituents, including biologically active carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, trace elements (e.g. arsenic, copper), organic compounds (anti-microbials, hormones, pharmaceuticals, etc.), and pathogens. The deleterious effects of these agents can be lessened with improved processing and land application systems.
In order to address these issues, members from the MAWP are collaborating with CLEANeast to assess livestock and poultry operations in sensitive watersheds across PA, MD, and VA using an Environmental Management Systems (EMS) model. An EMS is a voluntary, flexible business management system that helps farmers and managers to develop their own strategies for integrating environmental considerations into the daily operations of a farm.
By implementing pilot assessments across farms in PA, VA, and MD, team members will demonstrate how an EMS can not only reduce pollution from farms, but also increase operating efficiency, achieve public acceptance without regulatory oversight, and elicit confidence in citizens that the wastes are being handled in an environmentally sound manner.
State Contacts
| Greg Evanylo, VA (Project Lead) |
| Jactone Arogo Ogejo and Katie Haering, VA |
| Gary Felton and Jennifer Becker, MD |
| Bob Graves and Nadine Davitt, PA |