NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Season Two of Manure Du Jour
The
science, current research, practices, and programs for Pennsylvania’s animal
agricultural operations and best protection of air and water quality are the
focus of a weekly webinar program being held on Thursdays from February 18 to
April 29, 2010.
February 16, 2010 – The
science, current research, practices, and programs for Pennsylvania’s animal
agricultural operations and best protection of air and water quality are the
focus of a weekly webinar program being held on Thursdays from February 18 to
April 29, 2010.
The webinar series –
Manure Du Jour: Serving Pennsylvania’s Best Practices on Animal Ag, Air, and
Water Quality – will highlight critical tools as increasing regulatory scrutiny
of on-farm environmental management swells with the Chesapeake Bay mandates
along with statewide concern for water quality. Manure Du Jour will feature
experts from Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences and Cooperative
Extension, the USDA Agricultural Research Service, Natural Resources
Conservation Service (NRCS), the Pennsylvania State Conservation Commission
(SCC), and guests from Virginia Tech, the Pennsylvania Environmental Council,
the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, private sector and other research institutions,
non-governmental organizations, and agencies.
Manure Du Jour is an
educational program designed for practitioners in county conservation district
and extension offices, as well as for NRCS and state agencies with
responsibility for environmental protection and the well-being of agriculture.
The webinar is also open to producers, consultants, agribusiness and others. An
online question and answer period will take place each week following the
speaker presentations to enable participant interaction with the featured experts.
To access the free
webinar, participants should have:
- A high-speed internet
access. If you do not have access to high speed internet at your home or
office, consider visiting the local library or contact your county’s
conservation district office or extension office. - A Friends of Penn State
(FPS) account. Obtain your free FPS account by visiting http://fops.psu.edu and
filling out the registration form for a user ID and password. Please keep a
record of your user name and password – as it will be required for each entry
to the webinar location.
Season Two of Manure Du
Jour will focus on environmental challenges confronting Pennsylvania
agriculture and the tools for addressing them including GIS-based decision
support tools for adaptive management, estrogen and pharmaceuticals in water –
both their impact and control, erosion and sediment control from farm lanes, –
and the “next generation” of nutrient management, innovative technologies and
approaches.
What’s on the Menu Experts
(Time: 1:30 to
2:30 PM)
- Feb. 18 – Science and
Practice in Erosion and Sediment Control for Farm Lanes David Creamer and Steve
Blosser, PA Dirt & Gravel Road Center - Feb. 25 – Decision
Support Tools – Using GIS for Environmental Adaptive Management Rick Day, Penn
State Land and Water Analysis Laboratory, Crop and Soil Science; with
introduction by Doug Beegle, Crop and Soil Science - March 4 – Precision
Feeding – Science and Application of Pollution Prevention at its Best Virginia
Ishler, Dairy and Animal Science; Sarah Dinh, Lancaster County Extension - March 11 – Digesters v.
Super Digesters – On Farm and Regional Approaches Bob Graves, Agricultural and
Biological Engineering; Bill Shuffstall, Agricultural Economics and Rural
Sociology - March 18 – Surplus Nutrients
to Deficit Regions: Manure Application in PA’s Acid Mine Lands and Trading
Scenarios Rick Steuhower, Crop and Soil Science; Scott Van de Mark, PA
Environmental Council - March 25 – Movement of Estrogen and
Other Emerging Contaminants through the Water Environment Jack Watson, Crop and
Soil Science; Jim Clark, McKean/Potter County Extension; Deno De Ciantis, Penn
State Center in Pittsburg (moderator) - April 1 – Demystifying
the TMDL: The State Way, the Bay Way Brian Benham, Virginia Tech Center for TMDLs
and Watershed Studies; Denice Wardrop, Geography and Penn State Institutes of
Energy and Environment - April 8 – The Science
Behind Forested Riparian Buffers: Why they’re the best of the good, better,
best. David Wise, Chesapeake Bay Foundation and Invited Guest Speaker; - April 15 – Innovative
Technologies for Manure Application and Manure Expo 2010 Preview Peter
Kleinman, USDA ARS; Robb Meinen, Dairy and Animal Science - April 22 – Using
Industrial Resources or Byproducts for Nutrient Sequestration Ray Bryant, USDA
ARS; Bob Hedin, Iron Oxide Recovery Inc. - April 29 – BMPs and Environmental
Stewardship on Equine Operation Ann Swinker, Dairy and Animal Sciences; Donna
Foulk, Northampton County Extension
Beginning May 13, the
Manure Du Jour series will convert to a monthly schedule, meeting the second
Thursday of each month at 1:30 p.m. The May 13 session will feature Dave Dunn
with the Central Vermont Public Service “Cow Power” project which links farms,
renewable energy and customers, “providing renewable energy one cow at a time.”
