Integrators agree to help fund Delaware manure program

The state of Delaware has developed a cost share program which reimburses poultry growers who move poultry litter from farms that are nutrient-rich to farms that need nutrients, and this program has gained a new source of financial support. Allen’s Hatchery, Inc., and Mountaire Farms of Delaware and Delmarva, Inc., have each agreed to contribute up to $100,000 to help fund the program’s cost, if other sources of revenue cannot be found.

Delaware poultry growers participating in the Nutrient Management Relocation Program are eligible to receive $0.16 per ton mile for the one-way transport of poultry litter from their farm to a recipient farm which can utilize the litter according to accepted nutrient management guidelines. The payment is capped at a total of $18 per ton. The typical payment is $11 to $12 per ton.

Expenses for the litter relocation program were around $900,000 last year when the movement of 83,000 tons of litter was subsidized. State and federal funds supported the program in the past. Perdue Farms, Inc., has growers in Delaware, but the company participates in a joint venture, Perdue AgriRecycle, which pellets litter and sells it as an organic fertilizer. Perdue picks up manure from its growers in Delaware and Maryland who do not have use for the litter on their own land or do not have other economically viable options open for them.