Industry-Led Innovations in Dairy Manure Management

Sustainable Chesapeake, alongside the Giant Clean Water Partnership, was awarded $725,267 from the 2021 Maryland Department of Agriculture Animal Waste Technology Fund. The funding will allow Maryland dairy farmers to expand the adoption of high priority conservation practices through industry-led supply-chain sustainability initiatives.

The funding was jointly awarded to Sustainable Chesapeake, Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (MDVA), The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, and Giant Food, the latter three of whom make up the Giant Clean Water Partnership. The project will demonstrate the potential for manure injection and advanced solid separation technologies that allow farmers to improve nutrient use efficiency and avoid loss of valuable manure nutrients to critical waters draining within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Partnering with custom manure applicator Jones Agri Applications, the grant ensures that manure injection equipment is more accessible for the growing demand of Maryland farmers who are looking to transition from land applied manure. The project will also fund improvements to an anaerobic digester used to generate renewable energy on Kilby Farms, LLC.