PROBLEM

Management at Jennie-O Turkey Store was seeking an efficient and environmentally sound GIS solution to help them manage animal (turkey) waste from their barns and feedlots in Barron, WI, to farm fields in the surrounding 15-county area. Their current system was inefficient and labor-intensive.

SOLUTION

ADC helped Jennie-O Turkey Store implement an application to improve their Soil Enrichment Program (SEP), with the primary goal of managing animal waste going to farm fields to improve both soil quality and crop yields. Compliance with environmental discharge permit laws must also be followed.

SEP staff can now determine how much waste can be applied to a specific field, at what rate, per a number of environmental and legal guidelines, including field slope and proximity to private wells, among other things. ADC also created a geodatabase for Jennie-O, compiling the necessary base map data for the coverage area, as well as digitizing over 3,500 farm field boundaries.

RESULTS

Environmental regulations are consistently met, nutrients are spread on farm fields in an efficient, environmentally sound method, and staff time is reduced by eliminating the need for manual reports and maps.