New Online Tool Helps Farmers, Applicators Time Manure Applications with Weather

St. Paul, MN: The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) has teamed up with the National Weather Service to design a tool that helps farmers and commercial applicators determine the best time to apply manure.

The Runoff Risk Advisory Forecast tool uses past and predicted National Weather Service weather data like precipitation, temperature, and snow melt. It predicts the likelihood that applied manure will run off fields in daily, next day, and 72 hour increments. Farmers and commercial applicators use an interactive map to locate their field and find the forecasted risk. Users can also signup for email or text messages for their county that alert them to a severe runoff risk for that day.

“By providing this information, we hope to give our farmers and commercial manure applicators the tools they need to make well-informed decisions,” said Agriculture Commissioner Dave Frederickson. “By being able to better predict times of high runoff risk, we can decrease the potential loss of manure to our waterways and increase farm productivity by saving nutrients on the land. It is a win-win situation based on an easy-to-use tool."

When someone goes to the interactive map, the runoff risk is displayed in one of four categories: no runoff expected, low, moderate, and severe. When the risk is moderate or severe, it is recommended that the applicator evaluate the situation to determine if there are other locations or later dates when the manure application could take place.

The forecasting tool can also be used by others looking for climate information including 2” soil depth temperatures which are useful at planting time, and 6” soil depth temperatures which are helpful when determining fall fertilizer application in appropriate areas.

The Minnesota Runoff Risk Advisory Forecast is part of a larger federal project. The National Weather Service has provided data and guidance to states to create similar tools in Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. State funding for the project was provided by the Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment.

Grant money available to MN livestock owners for prevention of wolf attacks

St. Paul, MN: Minnesota livestock producers can now apply for grant money to help prevent wolf attacks. The Wolf-Livestock Conflict Prevention Grants were funded by the Minnesota Legislature earlier this year.

There is $120,000 available to producers this fiscal year (July 1, 2017 – June 30, 2018) and another $120,000 available next fiscal year (July 1, 2018 – June 30, 2019). Applications for this fiscal year are due November 24, 2017.

The grants provide reimbursement for costs of approved practices to prevent wolf-livestock conflicts. Eligible expenses for the grant program will include any or all of the following items:

·         Purchase of guard animals

·         Veterinary costs for guard animals

·         Installation of wolf-barriers which may include pens, fladry and fencing

·         Installation of wolf-deterring lights and alarms

·         Calving or lambing shelters

·         Other measures demonstrated to effectively reduce wolf-livestock conflicts

Producers must live within Minnesota’s wolf range, as designated by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, or on property determined by the Commissioner of Agriculture to be affected by wolf-livestock conflicts. Any animal species produced for profit and documented to have been killed by wolves in Minnesota in the past is eligible. This includes bison, cattle, chicken, deer, donkey, duck, geese, goat, horse, llama, mule, sheep, swine and turkey.

The grant application must be emailed or postmarked by 5:00 p.m. on November 24, 2017. Work for this first grant cycle must be done and expenses reported by June 30, 2018. The application and more information can be found at http://www.mda.state.mn.us/grants/disaster/wolf/wolfconflictprevent.aspx.

Buffer Law Deadline for Compliance is Nov. 1

The deadline for farmers to comply with the Minnesota Buffer Law is Nov. 1, 2017. The law requires farmers to install a 50-foot vegetative buffer on all public waters, or file for a waiver that extends the deadline. By Nov. 1, 2018, farmers must have a 16.5-foot buffer on all public ditches.

Prior to the deadline, farmers are encouraged to visit their local Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) office to discuss options for compliance and implementation under Minnesota’s buffer law. Local officials will be available to help farmers identify where a buffer is needed, alternative practices to buffers and options for assistance on implementation. If farmers live in a county that elected to forego using its SWCD for enforcement of the rule, it is recommended they contact the Board of Water and Soil Resources’ (BWSR) central office at (651) 296-3767.

Farmers seeking a timeline extension to buffer implementation must either file for a “Parcel Specific Compliance Plan” or a “Technical or Financial Assistance” waiver with their local SWCD office by Nov. 1.

With the compliance plan waiver, farmers must describe specific buffers and alternatives practices proposed for each parcel of their land that will be implemented prior to the July 1, 2018 extension deadline. Farmers who apply for the technical or financial assistance waiver will have until Nov. 1, 2018 or when the financial or technical assistance is received to become compliant.

Alternative practices approved by BWSR can be used instead of the prescribed vegetative buffer. To help farmers find the best strategy to comply with the Minnesota Buffer Law, the Decision Support Tool, funded by the Minnesota Corn Growers Association (MCGA) and designed by the University of Minnesota, is available at every SWCD office at no cost to the farmer. Farmers may also access the tool online from home at bwsr.state.mn.us/buffers or mncorn.org.

Farmers using the tool must answer basic questions about the characteristics of their land, including soil type, slope and existing management practices. From there, the tool provides farmers with site-specific alternative practices, which would be used in addition to required minimum buffers of five feet on public ditches and 16.5 feet on public waters. Approved alternative practices like using cover crops, conservation tillage, contour strip-cropping and more would take the place of the buffer law’s minimum 16.5-foot buffer on public ditches and 50-foot buffer on public waters.

Farmers will be asked to file the alternative practices they are implementing with their local SWCD, and will be required to perpetually use those alternative practices in order to remain compliant with the buffer law. These alternative practices are specific to the buffer law and do not replace public ditch laws enacted in counties.