Nutrient Management Courses Scheduled for 2011

Published: January 20, 2011

Two nutrient management courses have been scheduled for early 2011: the "Nutrient Management Planning Course" and the "Advanced Nutrient Management Course."

These courses provide training for anyone with an interest in managing nutrients on farms, particularly farms using animal manure as a fertilizer. These courses also provide training and continuing education credits for Certified Crop Advisors (CCAs) and Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) Operators.

The "Nutrient Management Planning Course" is a two-part course.

• Part 1: The classroom session will be March 15 to March 17, 2011. Topics covered in this part of the course include current NRCS and regulatory policies, water quality management, nutrient management calculations such as plant available nitrogen in manure, phosphorus-based management and manure economics.
• Part 2: The calculation/field session is held twice (attendees chose one) either April 18-20, 2011 or April 20-22, 2011. These sessions include a field trip to the MU Dairy, hands-on calculations related to nutrient management and active discussion sessions.

Approval is pending for 7.5 Soil and Water and 23.5 Nutrient Management continuing education units (CUEs) for CCAs. We will apply for 32.5 CEU's for CAFO Operators and for 29.5 CEUs for Wastewater Operators.

This course is highly recommended for anyone who plans to write nutrient management plans for animal feeding operations in Missouri. It also covers many need-to-know components for certified CAFO operators.

The cost of the two-part course is $400 and includes the cost of three lunches. All sessions will be held at the teaching facility at the University of Missouri Bradford Farm east of Columbia.

The "Advanced Nutrient Management Course" is an annual course that will be held February 16-17, 2011. There are no prerequisites for this course and it covers different topics each year.

The year's course touches on a number of topics including:

• Record keeping requirements for CAFOs,
• Hands-on computer session estimating erosion using RUSLE2,
• Discussion: Can manure applications lead to problems in crop and animal production?
• Using feed information to estimate manure nutrient content.
• Review of manure and soil testing strategies.

We are requesting approval for 8.5 Nutrient Management and 3.5 Soil and Water CEUs for CCAs and for 12.0 CAFO Operator CEU's. The session will be held at the teaching facility at the University of Missouri Bradford Farm east of Columbia. The cost for the advanced course will be $185 and includes two lunches.

Pre-registration is required for both courses. To register contact Christina George (573-884-6311; GeorgeCR@missouri.edu). For more information about either course contact John Lory (573-884-7815; LoryJ@missouri.edu). More details about the courses including agendas and a speaker list are available on line at http://nmplanner.missouri.edu/training/.

Both courses are sponsored by the University of Missouri Commercial Agriculture Program, University of Missouri Extension and the Natural Resource Conservation Service.