Management considerations for organic waste use in agriculture☆
Introduction
Organic wastes include animal manures, crop residues, food processing wastes, municipal biosolids and wastes from some industries. Organic wastes are typically by-products of farming, industrial or municipal activities, and are usually called “wastes” because they are not the primary product. However the goal is to make the “waste” a resource that can be utilized and not just discarded. Possible uses of organic wastes include use as fertilizer and soil amendment, energy recovery (heat, liquid fuels, electricity), and production of chemicals (volatile organic acids, ammonium products, alcohols). Agriculture has traditionally used animal manures for fertilizer and improving soil physical and chemical properties, and to a much lesser degree has also utilized municipal biosolids and industrial organic wastes for this purpose. Energy production from animal manures, crop residues, and/or other organic wastes has been utilized in agriculture to varying degrees in different parts of the world. Utilization of various organic wastes in agriculture depends on several factors, including the characteristics of the waste such as nutrient and heavy metal content, energy value, odor generated by the waste, availability and transportation costs, benefits to agriculture, and regulatory considerations. The importance of these factors can vary by type of organic wastes, but many of the considerations for utilizing organic wastes are similar for most organic wastes. The emphasis of this paper will be on animal manures used for crop production, but many of the considerations will apply to most organic wastes. This paper discusses some of the challenges affecting organic waste utilization in agriculture, main factors providing impetus for changing organic waste management strategies, how those changes may affect utilization of organic wastes, and management options and possible approaches to addressing challenges to utilizing organic wastes in agriculture.
Section snippets
Limitations affecting use of organic wastes
Traditionally, the most common utilization for animal manure and food processing organic by-products has been the application to land for improving the soil physical and chemical properties, and using the nutrients for growing crops (Risse et al., 2001). Although utilization of organic waste in agriculture has many benefits, there remain factors that significantly limit that strategy (Merillot, 1998). The limitations include: integration into agriculture, quality control of products, economics,
Impetus for changes in organic wastes management
The above challenges have resulted in continuing research and development efforts by various universities, research centers, government agencies, farm support industries, and farmer commodity groups to better utilize organic wastes in agriculture in a sustainable manner. The management challenges and the environmental concerns with concentrated animal feeding operations have resulted in extensive research into alternative manure treatment technologies which can address environmental concerns
Management strategies
Some of the various alternative manure management/treatment/utilization systems will be discussed briefly in this paper, but thorough treatment of this topic can be found in other publications such as Burton (1997), Burton and Turner (2003), Bicudo and Oleszkiewicz (1999), Miner et al. (2000), and Lorimor et al. (2001). The emphasis here will be on improving land application of organic resources, composting as a potential treatment to promote distribution of nutrients, and the potential for
Economics
Inherent in considering alternative management schemes for organic wastes are the costs and benefits. If regulations or environmental factors require additional treatment that increases costs of production and operation, then the farmer loses profit unless costs are shared with the government or other agencies. It is not easy to determine environmental costs and benefits of alternative waste management policies. The costs of additional waste treatment are more easily passed to the consumer for
Policies and regulations
Development of government policy and laws that consider environmental impacts, economic survival of agricultural producers of food, and food prices for consumers is difficult to formulate to satisfy the public. In some aspects, more regulation on organic waste products might be advantageous, such as setting specific but reasonable criteria for quality control, such as nutrient content and level of pathogen treatment. Such criteria will likely be required for certification of organic farming
Public acceptance
Better education of the public and the farmers of the benefits of proper management and utilization of organic wastes in agriculture are important to diminish fears and preconceived notions of nuisance problems, decrease in land values and environmental degradation. In the case of municipal and industrial organic wastes, utilization in agriculture can be presented as more sustainable than landfilling. Examples of successful utilization with support of the farmer and neighbors can promote
Summary
Some of the limitations for utilizing animal manure and other organic wastes are: (1) public acceptance (nuisance or environmental concern), (2) acceptable integration into agriculture, (3) quality control of residues being applied, (4) logistics and organization, (5) satisfaction of environmental regulations, (6) economic viability, and (7) sustainability. The environmental factors that appear to have the most potential impact on selecting management strategies in the next 10 years are
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Adapted from paper presented at Ramiran 2002 10th International Conference Hygiene Safety, Strbske Pleso, High Tatras, Slovak Republic, May 14–18, 2002.