Source: MEATINGPLACE, 12/30/11

A Maryland environmental advocacy group issued a report that identifies the phosphorus in chicken manure as a threat to the Chesapeake Bay and wants the state to create new standards for farming practices to reduce the impact.

The group, Environment Maryland, said the state’s chicken industry produces far more manure than crops in the region can use as fertilizer. In addition, the state’s current approach to managing phosphorus underestimates the extent to which the phosphorus may escape from a field into nearby water bodies, the group said.

It urged the state to replace the current rules for phosphorus application with more effective ones to prevent more phosphorus from being applied to cropland than crops need.

“Options include processing more manure into pelletized fertilizer and transporting more manure out of the region,” the group said in its report. For more on the report, click here.

The National Chicken Council said farmers on Maryland’s Eastern Shore already follow strict conservation practices and regulations for the application of poultry litter to fields. “This ensures the nutrients found in poultry litter are fully utilized in an efficient and effective manner,” Ashley Peterson, vice president of science and technology for the NCC, said in a statement emailed to Meatingplace.
 

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