NRCS Practice Standard: Waste Treatment (629)

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NRCS Practice Standard: Waste Treatment (629)

About the Company:

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is the US Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s primary private lands conservation agency. The NRCS helps producers protect and conserve natural resources on private lands through voluntary conservation programs. Through Practice Standards and technical guides, the NRCS provides information about the conservation, energy resources, and provides personalized advice to individual producers.

The NRCS’ Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) provides technical and financial assistance to producers as they implement NRCS Conservation Practice Standards.

Technical guides used in each field office are localized so that they apply specifically to the geographic area for which they are prepared. Thus, while national guidelines have been provided as a framework for each standard, each state has adopted and modified the conservation practice standards to suit their individual landscape.

To find a local NRCS Service center click here.

To find the specific guideline for each state click here.

About the Solution:

Waste Treatment (629)

Waste Treatment is the use of mechanical, chemical, or biological technologies to change the characteristics of manure and agricultural waste.

Practice Information

The treatment of manure or agricultural waste is used to improve water quality in surface and groundwater by better management of excess nutrients from manure or agricultural waste. It also improves air quality by reducing particulate air emissions and objectionable odors from manure or agricultural waste. Finally, it facilitates the desirable handling and storage properties of manure or agricultural waste.

This practice applies to all land uses where manure and/or agricultural waste is being generated and where soils, geology, and topography are suitable for construction of the waste treatment system.

This practice is used where surface and groundwater need to be protected as potential sources of drinking water and where degradation of water quality will impact the intended use of surface and groundwater. The practice is also used where improvements are needed to air quality to reduce air emissions and odors.

This practice has a minimum expected life of 10 years. Operation and maintenance of the facility will depend upon the type of system that is selected.

Common Associated Practices

NRCS Conservation Practice Standard (CPS) Waste Treatment (Code 629) is commonly applied with other conservation practices such as:

  • Waste Storage Facility (Code 313)
  • Waste Transfer (Code 634)


  • To view the full NRCS standard for Waste Treatment please click here.

    Natural Resources Conservation Service, US Department of Agriculture 1400 Independence Ave., S.W. Washington, DC United States 1-833-ONE-USDA Visit Company Website

    Solution Type

    • AD Support

    Vendor

    • Others

    Product

    • Other

    Problem

    • GHG
    • Nitrogen
    • Odor
    • Phosphorous
    • Storage

    To view additional information about this vendor, click below.

    Solution Strengths, Weaknesses and Critical Indicators

    Anaerobic Digester Associated Technology:

    NOTE: There are several technology types that are used as part of an integrated manure management system that includes an anaerobic digester and are not applicable to manure management in other cases. The impact of these technologies on the critical indicators are represented as those of an entire anaerobic digester system.

       

    • Long usable life and can be run reliably
    • Creates energy and generates environmental credits
    • Requires proper preparation of the feedstock
    • Requires other technologies for energy utilization
    • Requires other technologies for digestate handling
    • Proper feeding & system monitoring is required to avoid system downtime
    • Proven technology for odor control, GHG reduction and pathogen reduction

    Newtrient Comments/Opinions:

    Newtrient is using the USDA-NRCS conservation practice standards as tools to assist dairy producers in understanding the standards and how they can be used to address resources concerns.

    To establish a Practice Standard a system or practice must be thoroughly vetted, approved, and standardized by the USDA at the federal and state level. These conservation practices have been developed to address various environmental resource concerns. Newtrient has developed a 9-point scoring process for ranking additives, practices, services, and technologies for the dairy industry. Recognizing the rigorous approval procedure used during the development of the NRCS Practice Standards, many of them score very highly and are worthy of consideration on any dairy where they apply.

    The information provided here is a summary of the selected conservation practices. For up to date and detailed information related to the full Practice Standards, please see the USDA NRCS website, linked above.

    Newtrient 9-Point Scoring Rating

    View the Scoring Page

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