Nutrient recovery within the dairy industry has always been an important part of dairy production, albeit the term has recently taken on a new meaning. Historically, nutrient recovery meant taking nutrients from one area and applying them in a beneficial manner to another.
Land application of manure has always been a form of nutrient recovery. Nutrient-laden manure is taken from the barn, compost pile or lagoon and transported to land, where it then serves as fertilizer or soil conditioner for the benefit of the next crop – and the natural cycle continues.