About 5% of all U.S. cropland is currently fertilized with livestock manure. Expanded environmental regulation through nutrient management plans will likely lead to wider use of manure on cropland, at higher production costs, but with only modest impacts on commodity demand, or farm structure. While current use is limited, expanded gov¿t. support could lead to a substantial increase in manure use as a feedstock. However, current energy processes are unlikely to compete with fertilizer uses of manure, because they leave fertilizer nutrients as residues, in more marketable form, and because manure-to-energy projects will be most profitable in regions where raw manure is in excess supply, with the least value as fertilizer. Charts and tables.

The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture to evaluate the role of animal manure as a source of fertilizer, and its other uses. About 5 percent of all U.S. cropland is currently fertilized with livestock manure, and corn accounts for over half of the acreage to which manure is applied. Expanded environmental regulation through nutrient management plans will likely lead to wider use of manure on cropland, at higher production costs, but with only modest impacts on production costs, commodity demand, or farm structure. There is widespread interest in using manure as a feedstock for energy production. While current use is quite limited, expanded government support, either direct or indirectly, could lead to a substantial increase in manure use as a feedstock. However, current energy processes are unlikely to compete with fertilizer uses of manure, because they leave fertilizer nutrients as residues, in more marketable form, and because manure-to-energy projects will be most profitable in regions where raw manure is in excess supply, with the least value as fertilizer.

Animal manure can be used as a fertiliser, and it can improve soil quality. Manure can also be used as a feedstock for energy production. The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture to evaluate the role of animal manure as a source of fertiliser, and its other uses. About 5 percent of all U.S. cropland is currently fertilised with livestock manure, and corn accounts for over half the acreage to which manure is applied. Expanded environmental through nutrient management plans will likely lead to wider use of manure on cropland, at higher production costs, but with only modest impacts on production costs, commodity demand or farm structure. This book assesses current patterns of use of manure as fertiliser and evaluates the likely impacts of emerging environmental regulations on manure use. This book also assesses current efforts to use manure for energy production and evaluates the impact of bioenergy investments on manure's use as fertiliser. This book consists of public documents which have been located, gathered, combined, reformatted, and enhanced with a subject index, selectively edited and bound to provide easy access.

Traditionally, livestock manure has been used to provide nutrients for plant growth and to improve soil conditions. However, the increase in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) results in high levels of plant nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, in the proximal crop and pasturelands as a result of applying more manure than what is required to meet the local plant nutrient demand. Soil runoff and leaching of land-applied manure can enrich the surface and ground water with nitrogen and phosphorus, leading to eutrophication and hypoxia. In addition, overapplication of animal manure contributes to pathogen spread, the release of hormones and other pharmaceutically active compounds, and the emission of ammonia, greenhouse gases, and odorous compounds. In this Special Issue, we present 11 interesting articles covering the production of renewable energy and fuels, extraction of ammonia from animal manure, the agricultural and environmental benefits of using animal manure or its derived materials such as biochar or ashes, and the difference in microbial communities and pathogen survival after anaerobic lagoon treatment.