Evaluation of Manure Management Systems (MMS) and Cost-Share Programs for Mitigating Livestock Environmental Impacts

Abstract

Animal agriculture is a climate-exposed industry, creating the need to implement climate-smart manure management practices to alleviate manure's pollutive potential through greenhouse gas emissions (GHGe) and excess nutrient management. Manure management systems (MMS) require high initial investment for implementation and are often incentivized by cost-share programs that assume part of the implementation cost. The objective of Chapter 3 was to quantitatively summarize the literature on GHGe and manure nutrient composition in response to MMS use. Included studies provided data on the following: system size (L), species type, days stored, manure type (i.e. whole slurry, digestate, fractions, etc.), MMS type (anaerobic digestion, solid-liquid separation, covered and uncovered storage, composting systems, or mixed MMS use), and manure emissions and nutrient composition pre- and -post MMS use. The data were used to derive emissions coefficients and explore pollution reduction correlations between MMS with different pollution targets. A key takeaway is that there is inadequate data for MMS efficacy when used across species and location. This limits the accuracy of predictions made with the derived coefficients and limits the accuracy of which cost-share programs can be designed to achieve pollution reductions. Chapter 2 had the objective of exploring the strengths and weaknesses of cost-share programs. The complimentary analysis of historical cost-share data coupled with a stated-preference survey identified prioritization of MMS targeting GHGe as the most efficient and effective use of cost-share funding. The analysis also revealed that producer willingness to pay (WTP) has not changed over the decade, but that cost-share program structure should be equipped to account for higher pollution reduction prices while promoting MMS longevity. The pursuit of sustainability relies on the continuation of cost-share programs and MMS that focus on all facets of pollution reduction.