Our Story
Over our long association with the dairy industry, we have observed that over application of nutrients on land application fields is a common problem because land application to fields is typically done without a plan and because nutrient balance calculations are done after the fact. We understand that making a decision on which field needs to be land applied and at what rate gets complicated for the irrigators and producers. This decision is made difficult by varying lagoon nutrient concentrations, the seasonal variations in crop yields, and the variety of nutrient sources (green water, manure, fertilizers etc.). We recognized that it is very challenging to make informed decisions on land application of nutrients at agronomic rates without a real-time nutrient tracking and forecasting system. We understand that nutrient application at agronomic rates not only prevents environmental problems like contamination of soils and groundwater but also cuts input costs on fertilizer, manure and irrigation water.
We are also solving a problem related to the lack of systematic record keeping. CAFOweb© provides a compliance data tracking, monitoring record keeping system where multiple data sets can be analyzed. These data sets such as ongoing sampling data, inspections data, cropping data and meter reading data can now be stored, retrieved and analyzed from your computer anywhere in the world. Analyzing trends in the data like flow data, groundwater nitrate data etc., helps in identifying problems as they occur that may lead to taking proactive steps to alleviate them before they grow into bigger issues.
We recognized the need for real-time management of nutrient application and compliance data to ensure long-term sustainability of dairies and other agricultural operations. We thoroughly researched these issues and gaps, analyzed these situations based on our field experiences, and explored several solutions that are practical and user-friendly. The result is CAFOweb©, an innovative real-time nutrient tracking and forecasting tool that addresses the common nutrient management, record keeping and compliance data management problems in the CAFO industry.
Today several CAFO producers in New Mexico and Nevada have recognized the benefits from applying CAFOweb©’s predictive capabilities in managing CAFO nutrients and its analytical capabilities in managing groundwater, soils and cropping data. After initial testing at few dairies in New Mexico and Nevada, CAFOweb© is currently being used successfully by more than 25 dairies.
If you are a producer or a manager of a sustainable dairy, we are offering you the opportunity to try CAFOweb©.