Economic and Technical Evaluations of Swine Manure Management Systems Which Use Land Application

摘要

The trend towards more and larger confinement swine production operations has meant that larger quantities of localized manure have to be dissipated in cost-efficient and environmentally acceptable ways. Land application of the manure to agricultural crops represents an excellent manure utilization scheme as well as sound environmental management when application rates are based on crop nutrient requirements. Collection of waste management technical data and evaluation of the economics of the various feasible alternative manure management systems were the major objectives of this project. In this study, the major facilities, treatment, and land application options for liquid swine manure were identified and investment and operating costs were estimated. A mathematical integer linear programming model was developed to estimate costs of manure management systems and to determine which of the systems was the optimal or least-cost system.