Purdue News

December 18, 2002 Purdue professors can comment on EPA concentrated feeding guidelines Some Indiana livestock producers are one step ahead of the rest of the nation in regard to the Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation rules released Monday (12/16) by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Don Jones, a professor of agricultural and biological engineering at Purdue University, said Indiana's Confined Feeding Operation rules, adopted earlier this year, already meet many of the new federal regulations. Jones and Alan Sutton, a Purdue professor of animal science, served on the Indiana Department of Environmental Management's CFO Task Force, which crafted Indiana's confined feeding rules. "The federal CAFO rule will require more detailed management on the handling, storage and land application of manures," Sutton said. "This will cost producers more time and dollars to remain in compliance with the new permit requirements. "Many of these requirements are addressed in the new Indiana CFO rule," he said. For instance, Indiana's confined feeding regulations already require producers to keep manure application records and nutrient management information. The new federal regulations call for similar records, but are more extensive, Jones said. In Indiana, a farm requires a permit when it includes at least 300 cattle, 600 swine or sheep, or 30,000 chickens, Jones said. According to an EPA news release, federal regulations require operations with more than 1,000 cattle, 700 dairy cows, 2,500 swine, 10,000 sheep, 125,000 chickens, 82,000 laying hens or 55,000 turkeys to have a permit. "The EPA has estimated that about 15,000 operations across the nation will need to apply for the new CAFO permit, but only about 500 in Indiana," Sutton said. CONTACT: Don Jones, (765) 494-1178, jonesd@purdue.edu; Alan Sutton, (765) 494-8012, asutton@purdue.edu.