Equipment Equipment Storage
What’s the poop on manure lagoons?

July 6, 2017, New York – If you buy a house on the 9 million acres of agricultural districts in New York state, you sign a disclosure form that says the farmers near you have the “right to farm” even when it causes noise, dust and odors.

Still, when a farmer decides to build a lagoon to store millions of gallons of liquid manure, the neighbors are often disappointed to find out they have little say in the matter. They can also be shocked to hear that government sometimes requires manure storage and even helps pay for it.

Since 1994, 461 manure storages have been built with state financial help, according to the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets. Others are privately or federally funded.

The “Right to Farm” is a state law that protects 25,316 farms on 6.5 million of those 9-million acres of agricultural districts. The rest of that land is occupied by people who do not farm.

Mike McMahon, of McMahon’s EZ Acres in Homer, allowed us to fly a drone over the lagoon on his dairy farm and explained how it was designed.
McMahon, other farmers and government officials say storage is the best practice to protect the environment from runoff.

Storage allows farmers to spread manure on fields on only the best days – when the soil is dry and less likely to run off of wet and frozen ground into lakes and streams. READ MORE

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