Protect Yourself and Your Land

I have a question for the landowners renting land for manure spreading: Can you tell me when a nutrient becomes a pollutant? 

We all understand how manure can be useful in daily operations on the farm and where it comes from. Landowners who rent now have added exposure and risks with manure that has been applied onto or into their land. The Supreme Court of Wisconsin has ruled that manure leaving your land is no longer a nutrient – it becomes a pollutant. That is where you enter the picture – most often with your lawyer.  

I know this might upset some people in the industry, but has anybody with whom you rent told you this? Why not?

I just thought you should know what is at risk here. Get a professionally prepared land rental contract – one that protects you and your land. You, the landowner, can write in all the restrictions you want to limit the amount of manure, when it is applied and the like. Remember this: It is your land. Protect it or lose it!

Dick Swanson

Algoma, Wisconsin