Robert Pore's Ag Blog

LINCOLN — The University of Nebraska-Lincoln ExtensionLivestock Producer Environmental Assistance Project continues to help small livestock producers make their operations more environmentally friendly.

With its second tour in six years, the project promotes methods to minimize the impact of livestock manure on the environment, said Chris Henry, UNL biological systems engineer.
“Vegetative treatment systems are excellent solutions for small to medium sized open lot livestock feeding operations," the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources engineer said. "They are composed of a solids settling basin, an outlet structure and a vegetative treatment area.

The treatment area replaces the need for a conventional holding pond typically used in feedlots."
About 85 participants from six states attended a day-long tour to learn more about the benefits of vegetative treatment systems for small livestock operations.

Participants visited five sites across southeastern Nebraska and discussed system designs and how producers hope to contribute to a cleaner environment in the future.

"The projects we design and build are examples for producers, regulators and technical service providers to evaluate and learn from. Many of our solutions are contrary to traditional thinking and practice for run-off control," Henry said.

The project's two strongest supporters and team members are the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality and the Nebraska Natural Resources Conservation Service. The Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation has a leadership role in the overall direction, Henry said.
"By working as a team with producers and other stakeholders, the Livestock Producer Environmental Assistance Project hopes to develop solutions today that will become commonplace conservation practices tomorrow," said Jason Gross, project coordinator and technologist.UNL Extension's Livestock Producer Environmental Assistance Project, a group formed to promote alternative methods of minimizing the impact of livestock on the environment, developed the tour to inform participants about vegetative treatment systems and the environmental challenges small producers face, Henry said.

The majority of producers who raise less than 1,000 head of cattle don't have the resources to take on large conservation projects themselves, Henry said. With assistance from the Livestock Producer Environmental Assistance Project, funded by the Nebraska Environmental Trust, and guidance from skilled professionals, small producers can take part in improving the environment, he said.

"They look simple and obvious after they are done, but are a challenge to design and build from scratch," Gross said.

Don Esau operates a 350-head cattle operation near Beatrice where one of the vegetative treatment systems was put to use. Esau said he based his decision on environmental motives.
“It was something that had to be done," Esau said. "We had to make a decision either to continue raising livestock or not to continue. It was just an environmental issue that needed to be taken care of. We figured if we could have some assistance with the design and financing, that was the way to go."

A vegetative treatment system is a multi-step system used to control livestock waste run-off, Henry said. The system collects the run-off and separates solids from liquids. The liquids are stored in the root zone of the vegetation until the plants in the treatment area can use the nutrients, Henry said.

Because the producer can control the timing of release, either by a pump or a valve, run-off entering the treatment area is evenly distributed, and little or no run-off should leave the treatment system and pollute streams or groundwater, he said.

Esau's vegetative treatment system collects run-off in a small debris basin where solids are allowed to settle out of the liquid run-off. This run-off then is pumped to a vegetative treatment area planted to alfalfa.

The field next to the treatment area is flood irrigated, and the pump station doubles as a tail water recovery system for the field.

Vegetative treatment systems all follow the same general outline.However, the systems vary in style from one producer to the next based on their environmental challenges and the management style of the owner. The primary types of vegetative treatment areas shown on the tour include sloped, infiltration basin, terraced, constructed wetlands, sprinkler and tree treatment.

Some producers choose to combine two types of treatment areas for an added level of assurance. Doug Ferguson, who owns a small feedlot near Blue Springs, uses a combination of a sloped treatment area and an infiltration basin. After run-off is filtered down the sloped treatment area, it is further treated by vegetation in a shallow, level basin which decreases the threat of run-off leaving the treatment system.

The three remaining sites on the tour also incorporated sloped treatment areas into their systems. These sites included:

Southeast Community College in Beatrice — this proposed system will use a sloped vegetative treatment area to filter run-off from livestock facilities used for college courses.

Duane Burd's open lot dairy near Pleasant Dale — Burd uses an oversized sloped vegetative treatment area to filter run-off generated by his 60 head herd. He uses septic holding tanks and a small pump to transfer his milkhouse wastewater to the treatment area on a periodic basis.
Wayne Gruber's system near Waco -- Gruber also uses a sloped treatment area and infiltration basin to collect run-off from his 400 head herd of beef cattle.

Regardless of environmental impacts, vegetative treatment systems also are appealing to producers for other reasons as well, Henry said.

Although producers are generally responsible for the labor involved, management is relatively simple and loss of productive land is minimized because hay can be harvested from the treatment area, he said.

"All of the producers who have established a treatment system came to us as volunteers. None of the projects we installed are regulated activities by the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality" Henry said.

Between the vegetative treatment system site stops, presentations were given by representatives from partner organizations including the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality, Nebraska Environmental Trust, Kansas State University, Natural Resources Conservation Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. The presentations provided participants with updates from individual organizations and related research, as well as background on other vegetative treatment systems not visited on the tour.

The project and tour is sponsored through a grant from the Nebraska Environmental Trust. The trust is funded by proceeds of the Nebraska Lottery and private donations and has awarded more than $100 million to conservation projects in Nebraska since 1994.

The Nebraska Ethanol Board has released a new ethanol plant guide.

The publication is designed to assist communities and ethanol plant development groups during the process of developing ethanol projects.

The new publication, "A Guide for Evaluating the Requirements of Ethanol Plants", provides details of the typical ethanol plant development process. Many communities and plant developers spend two to four years from initial planning to successful plant start-up.

During the past decade, interest in the production of biofuels from renewable resources has continued to grow throughout the United States. Major grain producing states have placed special emphasis on the production of ethanol.

According to the Nebraska Ethanol Board, about 22 ethanol plants are in the planning stages for the state. Nebraska has 12 plants running, producing 635 million gallons of ethanol a year.

Two more plants are scheduled to open this year, one in Mead and one in Jackson, adding about 70 million gallons of ethanol production a year.

The current demand for ethanol and the projected increase in ethanol use under a national renewable fuels standard continues to stimulate interest in the prospects for development of new ethanol plants.

A federal mandate calls for drivers to use 7.5 billion gallons of renewable fuel by 2012. Also, clean-air programs cities across the nation depend on ethanol as a cleaner-burning fuel blend.

The ethanol plant guide was developed in response to requests for assistance by communities, cooperatives and ethanol plant development groups.

The publication is based on experiences in ethanol plant development gained over more than a decade.

"Many Nebraska communities have requested assistance in their efforts to recruit ethanol plants,” said Todd Sneller, Ethanol Board Administrator.

He said experiences gained in Nebraska and other Midwestern states are applicable in other areas of the country. “The ethanol plant development guide provides an excellent orientation to the process of identifying plant sites and other resources necessary for a successful project,” Sneller said.

The ethanol plant guide is designed to provide an overview of plant site selection requirements, environmental permits, business models and other tips that will increase the prospects for a productive evaluation process.

The ethanol plant guide was developed in cooperation with the Clean Fuels Development Coalition in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Copies of the publication will be distributed nationwide to departments of agriculture and other agencies that provide support for ethanol plant development. Copies of the publication are available from the Nebraska Ethanol Board.

Electronic copies of the publication can be viewed on the Nebraska Ethanol Board web site www.ne-ethanol.org and the Clean Fuels Development Coalition web site www.cleanfuelsdc.org.

By ARS News Service

Two of America's favorite grapes--Concord, of peanut-butter-and-jelly-sandwich fame, and Thompson Seedless, a summertime classic — are proud parents of a tasty seedless grape called Thomcord.

The plump, juicy Thomcord was developed by the Agricultural Research Service's grape breeders in California.

Thomcord has the blue-black skin, whitish bloom and bold flesh color of the Concord, plus a pleasing Concord-like flavor that's lightened by the sweet, mild taste of its Thompson parent. The fruit is slightly firmer than Concord. Like Thompson Seedless, Thomcord is well suited for California's sunny vineyards, according to research horticulturist David W. Ramming. He leads the grape-breeding studies at the ARS San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center at Parlier, Calif.

Thomcord was the unexpected bonus of a laboratory experiment that Ramming and technician Ronald L. Tarailo conducted in the '80s. Their intent was to hybridize, or cross, a Thompson with a Concord to answer a scientific question about a then-new procedure for breeding superior new seedless grapes. The experiment not only resolved the technical query, but also resulted in a promising plant, A29-67, that is today's Thomcord.

The scientists put A29-67 through 17 years of scrutiny in California vineyards before determining in 2003 that it was ready for growers and gardeners. Already a hit at local farmers' markets during its experimental days, Thomcord may begin showing up at other venues, such as the fresh-fruit section of supermarkets, within a few years. The grape ripens in late July through mid-August.ARS' grape-breeding research in California dates back to 1923. Over the years, the research has yielded new varieties of red, white and black grapes for hobbyist and professional growers. These fruits of the California studies include some of today's best-selling seedless grapes.

ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research agencyThomcord Grape: Flavorful, Attractive--and Seedless!