John Panuska, is a distinguished faculty associate in the department of biological systems engineering at UW-Madison. He has program affiliations with UW Extension, Agricultural and Natural Resources Extension and the Wisconsin Nutrient Management Team.
He's collaborating with Laura Ward Good from the department of soil science and Jim Beaudoin, a software developer, on this project.
Project title: Mobile maps for better manure management
Project description: Wisconsin dairy farms are already addressing the challenge of applying their manure in economically and
environmentally sound ways using the UW’s Soil Nutrient Application Planner (SnapPlus) software linked with
SnapMaps. SnapMaps provides GIS maps that show areas with manure spreading restrictions due to high risk of
surface water or groundwater contamination, such as setbacks along waterways or around wells. Currently both tools
are designed for computer and not mobile device (smart phone/tablet) application. An app showing these high-risk area
maps on a mobile device in the field during manure application will help farms comply with application guidelines. A
planned app feature allowing manure applicators to add field observations and record where they are spreading on the
maps will further their ability to avoid problems and over-applications. Providing dairy farmers with better tools to protect
water quality within the specific constraints of their land base is an important emerging issue highlighted in the January
8, 2020 Legislative Water Quality Task Force recommendation: “…to improve or expand the soil nutrient application
planner (SnapPlus) developed by UW-Madison to better address the unique water quality challenges identified in
various areas of the state”.
The project goal is to provide a mobile device platform for maps used for nutrient management planning and manure
field application. The objective is to have a fully functional Beta version ready for testing at the end of year 1 and the
tangible outcome is a stable final mobile platform ready for field application by year 2.
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