TAMU Slates Manure Management Meeting
The question is not if those involved in animal waste management can afford to attend the upcoming conference. It's whether they can afford not to, said Saqib Mukhtar, Ph.D., Texas AgriLife Extension Service agricultural engineer.
It's been 10 years since the last manure management conference, Mukhtar said. Since that time, there have been major advances in technology to help manage animal manure and process generated wastewater. There have also been considerable changes in state and federal regulations governing concentrated animal feeding operations and the manure they produce.
Set for Sept. 29-30 at the Austin Marriott North in Round Rock, Texas, the meeting will cost $75 until Aug. 1 and $125 thereafter for registration.
"This conference is an excellent opportunity for participants to learn about new advances in animal manure and animal mortality management," Mukhtar said. "They will also have face-to-face interaction with engineers, scientists, regulators, and producers and discuss future environmental challenges faced by Texas animal agriculture."
The meeting will address the new technologies being examined that hold promise in producing energy from manure as well as odor management, measurement and mitigation of gaseous and particulate matter (dust) emissions, and proposed EPA rules requiring confined animal feeding operations to monitor greenhouse gases.
Regularly updated detailed conference programming can be found at http://grovesite.com/tamu/tammi.
Texas nutrient management specialists may earn 8.75 continuing education units. Managers of concentrated animal feeding operations may earn 9 Dairy Outreach Program Area credits. And professional engineers may earn 1 hour of ethics training and 8 professional development hours.
Participants may register online at http://www.peopleware.net/1542b. Participants may also register by mail or fax by contacting Kay Sanders, Conference Services, 1232 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-1232. Contact Sanders at 979.845.7684 or k-sanders@tamu.edu.