Water Stewardship

Dairy farmers use water responsibly in their milking parlors and in manure management and storage. For example, wastewater is recycled to clean the barn and irrigate fields. One benefit of fertilizing the soil with cow manure is to help conserve water. When manure is used as a soil treatment, the water-holding capacity of soil is increased by 20 percent, resulting in reduced groundwater needed to grow crops.

Research has shown that when it rains, agricultural land is much better at holding nutrients. One acre of developed land typically sends three times as much phosphorus to waterways as one acre of well-managed agricultural land.

Farmers hold themselves to high standards and meet the requirements of numerous groups including the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), NRCS (Natural Resource Conservation Service, as well as state departments of agriculture and local government entities.

Farmers don’t want nutrients to leave their fields, and they use a variety of techniques to determine the right amount of fertilizer to reduce nutrient runoff. For example, no-till farming, planting cover crops and buffer strips, and using modern precision agriculture techniques, help preserve soil nutrients and water quality.