Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

[1] S-1074 Webinar Summaries for 2021-2022

 The S-1074 program organized four online webinars last year. All the research webinars were recorded. Links to the recordings are available in the S-1074 shared drive.

• The first webinar was held on September 24^th, 2021. Drs. Ganesh Bora and Frank Siewerdt from the USDA NIFA introduced the current programs under NIFA, focus areas, funding opportunities, and collaboration ideas. In particular, they highlighted the multidisciplinary programs recently established to encourage multi-state, multidisciplinary collaboration and holistic solutions to existing and future food production challenges such as sustainability and climate change.
• The second webinar was held on November 19^th, 2021. Dr. Maude Cuchiara from North Carolina State University talked about an ongoing multi-state, multidisciplinary project “NSF Science and Technologies for Phosphorus Sustainability Center – Introduction to Convergence Research.” Dr. Cuchiara currently serves as the executive director of the NSF Center. Dr. John Classen, an S-1074 participant, leads the outreach effort of the Center, further elaborate on education, research, and extension activities.
• The third webinar was held on February 28^th, 2022. Dr. Gary Anderson from South Dakota State University gave a presentation about his research work titled “Different Perspective: Design of Livestock Buildings. State of the Science Review on Methane Emissions from Manure Storages.” Dr. Anderson’s presentation covered a broad range of research projects that he participated in, including post-frame structure, built environment ventilation, microalgal cultivation in photobioreactors, and the application of microalgae for waste and air quality management.
• The last webinar was held on April 22^rd, 2022. Dr. Wendy Powers (the administrative advisor of S-1074) from the University of California talked about the status of S-1074, renewal of the program, and possible administrative changes. Dr. Julie Smith (a new participant of S1074) from the University of Vermont introduced her research and extension work in Vermont, particularly biosecurity, disease transmission, and antibiotics. She further called for collaboration research on these topics across the S-1074 community.

 [2] Accomplishments (multi-state activities align with the goals and objectives of S1074)

• In Arkansas, the research and extension effort focus on Objective 3 “propose solutions, research and extension directions to significantly contribute to sustainable animal protein systems and food security with forecasting of future trends”. The major activities of this project in the past year included operating two lab-scale liquid anaerobic digesters made of acrylic tubing running side by side to co-digest dry litter and straw and collecting performance data of the digester system. The results showed that the anaerobic digester system was working well in producing biogas from the co-substrates of chicken litter and wheat straw based on methane yield. Other performance data such as chemical oxygen demand removal and magnesium ion release via digestion were also collected. The purpose of determining magnesium ions level is because the effluent was supposed to be used as the influent for an electrolytic reactor to produce struvite, a slow-release fertilizer. In this way, the value of poultry litter can be recovered. The results from the major activities of the project appear to prove that anaerobic co-digestion of poultry litter and wheat straw can be a feasible method to treat poultry litter and recover nutrients if it is coupled with other technologies. Obviously, these activities are necessary to achieve the goals and objectives described in the non-technical summary of the project. A significant amount of work is planned for the next reporting period. The digestion experiments with poultry litter and wheat straw are ongoing with a total of 20 experiments to be completed and data collected to determine the optimal operating condition for the anaerobic co-digestion of poultry litter and wheat straw for biogas production and magnesium release. Since this project is part of a big project funded by NIFA/USDA/AFRI to develop a system for treating poultry litter using liquid digestion technology, the digesters developed and evaluated in this project will be incorporated into the overall system to form a complete treatment process that will have the capability of not only removing the nutrients from the litter but also generating struvite as a slow-release fertilizer and cleaning the digester effluent that can be recycled to dilute incoming poultry litter to feed the anaerobic digester for continuous operation.
• In California (CA), the team has conducted research and extension for all three project objectives. For objective 1, they worked collaboratively with students who participated in last year’s graduate student food waste cohort challenge to encourage continued work on refining their process and findings for preparation of journal article. They engaged with INFEWser management team to provide leadership for the INFEWser project to train the next generation of scientists and strengthened the next generation of thinkers to engage in animal protein sustainability discussions. The team participated in multiple events/activities, including the INFEWser (NSF) funded virtual resource center for graduate students, webinar sessions of S1074 on nutrient imbalance, and the Annual S-1074 meeting to share information and experiences with Regional Research group participants. They converted previously published work on forage and solid manure sampling into extension bulletins, and developed collaboration among UC Davis, Texas A&M and other universities on the use of VR videos in teaching animal waste management. A Research and Extension Proposal entitled “A Intuitive Waste Management and Farm Design Powered by Virtual Reality: Thriving “Community Friendly” Animal Feeding Operations” was submitted to USDA AFRI with the PIs from multiple universities, including UC Davis, Texas A&M, Iowa State Univeristy, University of Florida, Utah State University, and Cornell University. For Objective 2, the team worked with CA collaborators (cooperative extension advisors and dairy operators) to measure nutrient composition of effluents from dairy manure treatment technologies. They completed research to quantify the nutrient composition of effluents from advanced manure treatment technologies to inform potential use of additional treatment technologies. Waste streams from vacuums, anaerobic digesters, mechanical solid liquid separation, and chemical flocculation system and solids from compost bedded pack barns were evaluated in two seasons to capture extremes in total solids and nutrient concentrations. Particle size and nutrient analyses of effluent streams will prove useful to identify potential use of additional treatment technologies to further remove nitrogen and salts for export off-farms. They also collaborated with Los Alamos and Berkeley National Laboratories and University of California researchers at Riverside, Irvine, Davis and Berkeley to evaluate multiple methods to measure and estimate methane emissions from agricultural sources specifically dairy operations. Simultaneous top down and bottom up sampling campaigns measure gas concentrations and estimate emissions. This work continues under a different funding mechanism to evaluate a facility post installation of anaerobic digestion. For Objective 3, understanding the barriers to manure management modification is a key driver to a project evaluating practices co-funded by the Alternative Manure Management Program. Additionally research was conducted to convert dairy manure into valuable compost products for application in almond orchards with a goal to significantly increase the use of dairy manure in almond orchards as a nutrient-rich and safe organic amendment to achieve carbon sequestration and provide economical and sustainable benefits for the soil, crop, and environment. The overall project goal is to identify strategies to optimize animal production for future scenarios by balancing environmental, social, and economic drivers and effects. Compost was produced from manure solids and their mixture with almond biomass sticks. The initial bulk density for dairy manure and almond shell debris were 27.3 and 28.6 lb/cubic feet. The compost was pelletized using a pilot scale system. The produced pellets had a moisture content ranging from 20.2% to 28.1%. The bulk density of the pellets produced from manure alone and manure and stick was 53.5 and 47.7 lb/cubic feet. This densification of nutrients may lend itself to off-farm transportation and use in an economical fashion. The pelleted products were applied to the almond orchard for the second year. The yield of almond kernels was determined (dry lb/acre): 3,188, fertilizer with synthetic fertilizer (control); 3,435, manure compost; 3,282, manure-stick compost; 3,071, pelletized manure compost, and 3,492,pelletized manure stick compost. They developed compost (windrows, 12-week) from dairy manure solids and residual woody biomass from almond processing plants. Finished compost was assessed for differences between dairy-almond and dairy-alone windrows. Finished composts was pelletized and land applied to almond orchards (4 dry tons per acre). Data currently being analyzed and prepared for publications. They also worked collaboratively with collaborators from IL, OH and CA to develop and deliver a graduate food waste cohort challenge and engaged with INFEWser management team to provide leadership for the INFEWser project and annual graduate student symposium to train the next generation of scientists.
• In Georgia, Dr. Chai is leading a collaborative research project entitled “A machine vision-based method optimized for restoring broiler chicken images” funded through the USDA-ARS cooperative grants and an Egg Industry Center competitive grant. The objectives of this study were to (1) develop an imaging processing strategy for removing equipment and restore occluded chicken areas; (2) test the effect of the optimized method to remove equipment areas; (3) evaluate the efficiency of different image restoration methods used in this study for two primary occlusion scenarios.
• In Iowa, the team (Drs. Koziel and Anderson) performed a review of impermeable covers for manure storages for methane capture and utilization. Model integrates economics of biogas utilization, carbon credits, improved nitrogen retention, and increased hauling costs. They evaluated impact of swine manure application timing impacts of corn yield and water quality. Dry conditions led to similar yields between fall and spring application timing and almost no loss to nitrogen leaching. The also developed extension modules on manure impacts on greenhouse gas emissions and applicability of mitigation techniques.
• In Idaho, liquid manure solid/nutrient separation is an important step for better uses of manure nutrients and reducing overall manure handling costs. Evaluation of solid/nutrient separation efficiencies of centrifuges and screens was conducted. We incorporated the test data into extension materials and presentations. The team collaborated with colleagues at Texas A&M and dairy producers on making a few videos about manure solids/nutrients separation and anaerobic digestion of dairy manure.
• In Ohio, the team’s efforts fitting into the objectives of multi-state project S-1074 have been focused on developing model tools to estimate air emission generation, distribution, and dispersion, and air emission mitigation technologies. In 2021, they have been working on two projects. In Project 1: A NIFA Foundational grant project "Modeling Fluxes, Fate and Transport of Ammonia Emission from Egg Production and Manure Management Facilities", AERMOD simulations were developed for estimation of dispersion and deposition of NH3 emission from typical manure-belt layer facilities in Ohio. Field measurement campaigns for NH3 dispersion were conducted in a commercial manure-belt layer farm in August and October of 2021. Extensive data on ammonia emission rates from various type of the poultry layer facilities, including production houses, manure composting facilities, manure storages, and wastewater processing lagoons, were successfully obtained. Ammonia concentration data at upwind location and 20 downwind locations over 10 days were collected along with the on-site weather condition data.  The AERMOD model was validated using the data collected from field measurement.Equipment and methods for field measurement of low level of ammonia were investigated. In Project 2. A NIFA grant project “Electrostatic Precipitation for Air Cleaning of Particulate Matter (PM) Emissions at Animal Production Facilities,” they primarily conducted field performance tests of electrostatic precipitator (ESP) and electrostatic spray scrubber (ESS) prototypes for dust control and pathogen deactivation at poultry layer houses. Materials and energy costs of the ESP and ESS operations were recorded. Techno-economic analyses for both the optimized ESP and ESS devices were conducted based on the long-term field test data. A Ph.D. dissertation on mitigation of dust emission at poultry layer facilities using ESP and ESS had been finished in 2021.  A M.S. graduate study on control of pathogens using the ESP and ESS devices had also been started in 2021. A journal article on A COMSOL computer simulation model to simulate and optimize electrostatic precipitators (ESPs) for collection of dust particles has been published. A journal article on optimization of ESS has been submitted. An extension workshop on PM control at poultry facilities using electrostatic precipitation technologies has been developed and will be offered at the 2022 Waste to Worth Conference in April, 2022.

• In Michigan, research supported the objective “Synthesize data, analytical tools and communication mechanisms to evaluate and discuss animal protein supply chain sustainability metrics on various spatial and temporal scales” and “Propose solutions, research and Extension directions to significantly contribute to sustainable animal protein systems and food security with forecasting of future trends”. Specifically, research is being conducted on the transport of soluble nutrients with the goal of producing an index to provide guidance on maximizing beneficial plant uptake and minimizing environmental risk when applying manure, biosolids, and commercial fertilizers. This year, the research emphasized the impacts of the management technique for biosolids, loading, and environmental conditions using column testing. It is anticipated that animal manure behaves similarly. A field demonstration is in progress. An additional project entails researching water quality impacts from the mesophilic surface composting of animal mortality resulting from emergency supply chain disruptions. Regulatory concerns are that nutrients and natural soil metals, which can be mobilized from high organic soil loadings, will leach into ground water. Column studies to examine the impacts of swine and poultry remains, loadings, soil type, and environmental conditions are complete. A field demonstration is in progress.
• In Minnesota, the team has made progress for all three project objectives. For Objective 1, since the fall of 2019 through present, two graduate student cohorts were formed around the premise that economics, social acceptance, and community demographics influence the rate of change of livestock development in a region. The two cohorts were challenged to understand the relationships in South Dakota (2019-2020) and North Carolina (2020-2021), respectively. All cohort developers and advisors were S1074 members, from MN, NC and IA, and part of the INFEWSer project. By engaging with stakeholders affiliated with livestock development, Extension, and community leadership in South Dakota, the first cohort, identified a series of economic, governance and societal factors thought to be related to increases and decreases in livestock production in five South Dakota counties. The cohort adapted Comparative Qualitative Analysis (a Boolean approach) to correlate the existence of these factors to growth or decline in cattle and swine numbers among the counties over time. The second cohort focused on stakeholder roles in the adoption of non-traditional manure management practices in North Carolina. The cohort posited that the means, motives, opportunities and alignment of stakeholders can be collectively assessed to model past and present actions. For Objective 2, Minnesota S-1074 members are co-PIs for a USDA NIFA Award 2020-67021-32465 to design and implement a scalable and dynamic database and management system for collecting and combining manure analysis results from around the U.S. Ultimately, the database will provide up-to-date, aggregated information on animal manure nutrient composition in user selected terms: spatially, temporally, and by animal system source. In addition to nutrient management planning, this database will support regional nutrient balance models, and life-cycle analyses. The database schema is developed, and the first sets of lab data are being entered. Minnesota S-1074 members also co-authored a review paper (Sharara et al. 2022) examining nutrient balance approaches from field to regional scale. Some key needs to further improve nutrient balances for the protection of agriculture, water quality and air quality, are data transparency, thresholds for action, and continued outreach and knowledge exchange. For Objective 3, producer participation in industry-led or consumer-driven sustainability initiatives requires literacy in popular sustainability metrics, and measurements to demonstrate metric benchmarks and/or changes over time. An integrated research and Extension project was proposed to the USDA NIFA Foundational Critical Agriculture Research and Extension program to encourage these critical conversations about environmental sustainability metrics between generations and within the agricultural community, to promote engagement and broaden opportunities for continuous improvement. A stakeholder group with livestock industry representatives, 4-H leadership and sustainability researchers from Minnesota and beyond supported this proposal. The project was not funded, but conversations with stakeholders continue to build regional capacity in livestock industry sustainability initiatives.
• In Missouri, Teng Lim (Missouri) collaborated with other faculty from in-state and other states including Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas to address the need for regional coordination and leveraging of existing disaster preparedness and recovery resources. A website has been created for this effort: https://heartland-disaster-resilience.extension.org/. This four-state network is a logical partnership due to the rural nature of the communities, similarities in the type of extreme events being dealt with, natural resource similarities, geographic proximity, socio-economic similarities, and an extensive history of these land grant institutions successfully working together. The grant is USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Smith-Lever Funding, for 2018-2022. Teng Lim and Joseph Zulovich (Missouri) collaborated with Richard Stowell and Amy Schmidt (Nebraska), and other faculty from Arkansas, Ohio, and Colorado to work on an integrated USDA-NIFA project. The title of the project is Water and Nutrient Recycling: A Decision Tool and Synergistic Innovative Technology, and is for 2018-2023. This extension program works with stakeholders in the national agricultural community to encourage systematic evaluation of manure nutrient management, and adoption of nutrient water recycling technology. Teng Lim, Zong Liu (Texas), and Linda Schott (Idaho) collaborated to organized a special invited speaker session for the 2022 ASABE Annual International Meeting, for the NRES-27 subcommittee, “Regional Manure Nutrient Balance, Guest Speaker Session”. The session will take place Tuesday, July 19, 2022.
• In North Carolina, Dr. Sharara in collaboration with S1074 members developed a review publication that was published in the Journal of the ASABE. The paper summarizes multi-year deliberative work by the project team to improve nutrient management in animal agriculture by identifying key needs and opportunities. Dr. Sharara in collaboration with colleagues in other land-grant universities developed, and published a factsheet series summarizing manure management technologies to promote sustainable options for manure utilization (see Extension and Outreach section). An NC team member (Dr. Sharara) served on committees planning the Waste to Worth 2022 Conference in Maumee Bay, Ohio, program and planning committees. In addition to bringing together experts in waste management for animal protein industry, the event served as an opportunity to plan the 2022 Annual Project Team meeting, which was hybrid.
• In Nebraska, the team focused its research and extension effort on antibiotic resistance in the past year. Antimicrobial resistant infections have been recognized globally as a significant threat to public health. While research to characterize antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in microbial populations on livestock production systems has progressed since launching the AFRI Food Safety AMR Program, a nationwide coordinated effort among university outreach programs to convey science-based knowledge on AMR dynamics to stakeholders, including agricultural producers, food safety experts, educators, consumers, medical professionals, and policymakers, remains undeveloped. Because misinformation and ambiguous terminology contribute to misunderstandings about risks to human health associated with “AMR”, in general, communicating the level of risk associated with AMR in clinical and nonclinical settings is recognized as an essential component to be addressed through this outreach project.A nationwide team of research and extension professionals with expertise in livestock production, veterinary medicine, food safety, communication strategies and environmental management (Figure 1) has assembled to develop capacity to design and deliver nationwide extension programming focused on AMR. The project title, “iAMResponsible”, is intended to convey that everyone has an obligation to understand AMR and learn how they can adapt to using science-based practices to mitigate AMR and preserve the efficacy of antibiotics for future generations. Essential to the awareness campaign was the identification of an expanding group of content experts whose work is the foundation for the media materials created for the campaign and for much of the educational materials being developed for extension outreach programming. The target audience for the iAMResponsible^TM Project’s outreach efforts include livestock producers, food safety experts, extension educators, consumers, veterinarians, medical professionals, and policymakers. Approximately 4,000 persons are following one or more of the iAMResponsibleTM social media profiles with strong representation by medical professionals, educators, and AMR researchers worldwide. The iAMResponsible^TM team continues its collaboration with the Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Community (LPELC). Cooperative efforts with the LPELC included an expansion of research-based resources on AMR for community members and the development of a new focus area for iAMR outreach efforts: science communication; specifically, the provision of both training and resources to extension and other STEM professionals to empower their communication efforts on AMR. Four on-line social media outlets for the dissemination of AMR related materials are managed with monthly, weekly, or multi-weekly outputs. Over 50 new pieces of outreach content were created during the reporting period for distribution on social media and added to the existing library of some 400 pieces of media and research related to AMR curated by the iAMR team and available to the public on the LPELC website. During the spring of 2021, the team conducted a series of social media surveys to assess audience knowledge and attitudes toward AMR, food safety, and toward the iAMR Project. Survey results indicate that the team has utilized social media effectively to build a recognized and trusted brand among medical professionals, educators, and AMR researchers worldwide and audience members indicated that they were motivated to change at least some personal behaviors to address growing AMR. However, outreach on social media has proved less effective for reaching audiences previously unaware of AMR and its potential impact on food safety. Engagement events for social media content totaled just over 4,000 during the period of July 2021 to June 2022. Thus far, the principal activities of the project have involved curating, translating, and disseminating agricultural-, environmental- and food safety-related AMR research outcomes via social media (Figure 2) and short extension articles for blog and print outlets. Social media outlets for the project include:
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/i_AMResponsible
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iAMResponsibleEDU
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamresponsibleedu/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4cO1Gr80Y8skUWYk_try3g
• Website: com (in development): A repository of more than 500 AMR-related scientific resources, primarily focused on agricultural AMR and AMR-related food safety, has been created that includes refereed research publications, graphical resources, videos, and short media articles. This database is intended to provide ready access to team members of AMR-related information for use in extension programs and publications nationwide. Portions of the database are also available to the public at: https://lpelc.org/antimicrobial-resistance-resource-library/. The iAMResponsible^TM Project team further expanded their online course, AMR from a One Health Perspective, with emphasis on developing scientific communication skills in young STEM professionals. During the Spring of 2022, twenty-three students at six universities – University of Nebraska-Lincoln, North Carolina State University, University of Maryland, University of Minnesota, Washington State University, and Oklahooma State University – participated in the multi-institutional graduate course led by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The iAMResponsible^TM Project team will continue efforts to identify educational needs, produce and curate research-based content intended to improve public awareness about AMR, and improve access among producers, consumers, and stakeholders to research-based information about potential AMR-related food safety risks. In the coming year, public awareness efforts will be coupled with an examination of producer attitudes toward AMR and antibiotic use and an evaluation of audience needs to identify gaps in informational materials and outreach methods. The team will utilize these results to further refine our outreach efforts towards improving the ability among producers, consumers, and stakeholders to assess and adopt practices to mitigate potential AMR-related risks.

• In Oklahoma, the team focused on Objective 3 – Solution Development. In order to advance solutions which significantly contribute to sustainable animal protein systems and food security, we are evaluating the use of virtual fencing technology to improve grazing management and ecosystem services. This technology employs GPS-enabled collars on individual cattle that provide auditory and electric stimulus as needed to control cattle location and implement critical area protection and rotational grazing to prevent overgrazing and ensure vigorous vegetation. The team was awarded an $877,569 grant from EPA in May 2021 for the project titled “Virtual fencing to control cattle for improved ecosystem services” With funding from this grant, OSU is implementing virtual fencing evaluations on OSU research ranges and demonstrations on cooperative private ranches in the Stillwater Creek and adjacent areas. At these research and demonstration ranches, the team is evaluating the effectiveness of the technology in implementing grazing management systems and the resulting ecosystem benefits to stream water quality and health, as well as wildlife and pollinator habitat. Work completed includes initiating the contract, setting up accounts, holding monthly project meetings, and developing and submitting a Quality Assurance Project Plan to the EPA. The first demonstration ranch was identified and virtual fencing installed. Virtual fencing was also installed at the OSU research ranges and stream visual assessments were conducted quarterly at the four watershed sites located on research ranges. Temporary water quality monitoring equipment was installed at the four watershed sites while flumes are being fabricated. The first year of measurements are focused on tracking cattle movement and collecting baseline water resource and stream health data. This baseline date will be compared to data collected once rotational grazing and riparian protection are implemented to evaluate how the technology impacts cattle movement, water quality and quantity, and habitat. Finally, the team also evaluated how virtual fencing impacted cattle cortisol levels (an indicator of stress), compared to electric fence, and found no significant difference in stress indicators among the fencing types. The research outcome was presented at the American Society of Animal Science Annual Meeting in July 2021.
• In South Dakota, the team collaborated with Dr. Erin Cortus from the University of Minnesota in hosting the 2022 Minnkota Meeting at the South Dakota State University (SDSU) Sioux Falls Extension Station and gave an oral presentation about their research and extension activities. The team, through collaboration with the SDSU Computer Science Department, finished the conversion of South Dakota Odor Footprint Tool (SDOFT) from an Excel spreadsheet file to a web-based calculator, and is currently in process to build a smart phone app. They finished the design and construction of a low-cost, open source smart scale system for improved cattle management, through collaboration with Dakota Lakes Research Farm. The team continued a collaborative research project with Drs. Anderson, Zhang, and Min at SDSU in cultivating algae for livestock wastewater treatment and mitigation of gas emissions from livestock barns. They developed several natural flocculants from agricultural by-products and are testing them for flocculation removal of suspended solids from livestock wastewater. The SDSU team finished a very comprehensive literature review report (183 pages) about particulate matter in swine confinement buildings.
• In Texas, the Texas A&M AgriLife Research/Extension manure management team continued to improve the flexibility in animal manure management applying nutrients where needed. As an extension effort, the team created digital learning platforms for animal waste extension including virtual reality (VR) Extension, TAMMI website, TexasManure Twitter, Texas Manure YouTube channel, and online Extension courses. VR videos of animal manure and mortality management were filmed and produced in Idaho, Utah, and Texas with S-1074 members. These VR footages and videos have been shared with several states within the S-1074 group. Another team is researching the production of greenhouse gases from manure management systems at intensive livestock facilities. Their goals include improving the estimates of the magnitude of these emissions, improving the understanding of the processes involved in the production of particularly nitrous oxide, and identifying potential mitigation strategies that could be implemented by intensive livestock facility managers. While most of the research has been conducted in the Texas High Plains, similar issues are encountered through the Southern High Plains regions where most of the fed cattle production is located. They are one of the research sites in the US Dairy Net Zero Initiative – Dairy Soil Water Regeneration project, which also involves other members of S1074 at other research sites.
• In Virginia, Dr. Ogejo and his team contributes to objective 2. They have about four years of manure temperature data at different depths with associated local weather parameters during storage on a dairy farm. This work is part of a larger effort to understand the microbial transformation of nitrogen in dairy manure during storage periods. They synthesized the data to discern the spatial and temporal manure temperature tendencies during storage and developed a physics-informed neural network approach to provide an improved method for predicting manure temperature during storage in different storage structures. Their results showed that, in general, the stored manure temperature lagged but followed a similar trend as the ambient air temperature and solar radiation. The average manure temperature was higher than the ambient air temperature for most of the year. Depth influenced the manure temperature; manure in the top layers had a higher temperature during warm periods than the bottom layers, and vice versa during cold seasons. They also found that the physics-informed neural network model performed better and was more accurate in generalizing manure temperature prediction across different types of manure storage structure types compared to purely data-driven neural networks and purely physics-based models.
• In Wisconsin, Dr. Larson and her team held the 2021 Midwest Manure Summit with speakers presenting on sustainable livestock manure handling practices, and completed a fact sheet series with several S1074 members on sustainable manure processing systems.