CAFO: What is it, why should you care and are you ready for it?
By 2007, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) regulations will require you to create and follow a plan for your operation that will improve your water quality, odor emissions and greenhouse gases. You’ve probably been hearing terms like agricultural friendly, green and renewable energy, anaerobic digesters, bio-drying, and thermal gasification, but do you know what they mean?

We know you’re busy running your operation and don’t have time to learn catch phrases or research new laws and regulations. That’s why we’re here. Skill Associates is committed to staying in the forefront of technology and educating you in ways to help you comply with government regulations while saving you time and money. To view our mission statement, click here.

Did you know?
CAFO regulations are based on the size of your livestock?
There are 15,500 operations in the United States that fall under CAFO regulations. Are you one of them?

• 710 Dairy Cows
• 1,000 Cattle
• 2,500 Swine
• 125,000 Chickens
• 10,000 Sheep
• 55,000 Turkeys

Anaerobic Digesters don’t completely satisfy the updated CAFO rules!
Drying and burning manure, unlike an anaerobic digester, removes all water and solids. Anaerobic digesters have liquid and solids still as a by-product that must be spread or treated and do not help significantly reduce your phosphorus load on the land. The EPA’s CAFO guidelines require you to reduce the amount of waste of your operation. So to meet these new guidelines, you would either need to find alternative sources to dispose of your waste or increase your land to spread it. CAFO rules and regulations

There is an affordable solution?
The government is serious about enforcing the CAFO law and therefore has made federal and state grants available to help you become compliant. Bio-mass energy systems are easily financed because they are considered a mechanical process. In fact they can be financed like any other piece of equipment used on your farm. Therefore you may qualify for grants as well as tax incentives.

We understand that managing money and financing are daunting tasks and therefore have taken the guesswork out of it for you by working with federal and state grant writers as well as financial institutions to help make the process as smooth as possible. See our estimated cost sheet.