Act 38 Nutrient Management
Full nutrient management plans for concentrated animal operations, CAFOs and volunteer operations — balance calculations, manure group inventories, application setbacks and field-by-field application rates.
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Plans that keep your operation in the clear.
Nutrient management, manure and odor plans, agricultural E&S and CAFO permitting — written, submitted, defended in review, and kept current as your operation changes. Written by people who have walked the barnyard, not just the regulation.
01 — Services
Every plan your operation is required to hold.
And, just as importantly, the amendments that keep them valid when herd size, acreage, ownership or storage changes.
Manure Management Plans
Required for any operation that generates or land-applies manure, whatever its size. Straightforward to produce, and the first thing an inspector asks to see.
Odor Management Plans
Act 38 odor management plans for new and expanding animal housing and manure storage. Approval is needed before construction — which is why this belongs at the start of a building project. See how it fits the build sequence →
Agricultural E&S Plans
Chapter 102 agricultural erosion and sediment control plans covering plowing and tilling activities and animal heavy use areas — required once those activities total 5,000 square feet.
CAFO & NPDES Permitting
Individual NPDES CAFO permit applications, renewals, annual reporting and ongoing compliance support, coordinated with PA DEP and your conservation district. More on NPDES permitting →
Keeping plans current
Herd size changes. Acres come in or go out. A storage is added, or the farm transfers to the next generation. Each of those can put an approved plan out of date without anyone being notified — and it is the amendment, not the original plan, that most operations are missing.
02 — Orientation
Which plan does your operation need?
These programs stack rather than replace one another, which is the single most common source of confusion — and of surprise findings at inspection.
| Plan | Who needs it | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Manure Management Plan | Any operation generating or land-applying manure | No size threshold. If you have livestock and spread manure, this applies to you. |
| Act 38 Nutrient Management Plan | CAOs, CAFOs, and operations volunteering into the program | Replaces the manure management plan with a considerably more detailed document. Triggered by animal density, not simply by herd count. |
| Agricultural E&S Plan | Plowing/tilling or animal heavy use areas totaling 5,000 sq ft or more | Separate from the nutrient side entirely. Many operations holding a current nutrient management plan are missing this one. |
| Odor Management Plan | New or expanding animal housing and manure storage at Act 38 operations | Must be approved before construction starts. Late discovery of this stops a barn project cold. |
| NPDES CAFO Permit | Concentrated animal feeding operations | A discharge permit, with its own renewal cycle and annual reporting obligations. |
The most common gap we find
An operation with a current, approved Act 38 nutrient management plan and no agricultural E&S plan at all. They are different programs with different triggers, and holding one has never satisfied the other. It is inexpensive to fix in advance and unpleasant to fix during an inspection.
Plans go stale quietly
Nobody writes to tell you that your plan no longer matches your operation. If yours hasn't been looked at since it was written, it is worth an hour of somebody's time — send us what you have and we'll tell you whether it still reflects the farm.
03 — Questions
Questions we get asked.
Does every farm need a manure management plan?
If your operation generates or land-applies manure, yes — there is no minimum size. Larger operations meeting the animal density thresholds for a concentrated animal operation, or defined as a CAFO, need the fuller Act 38 nutrient management plan in its place.
I'm putting up a new barn. What do I need, and when?
Work backwards from construction. If you are an Act 38 operation, an approved odor management plan is needed before you build, and that approval takes time.
The full sequence is set out on our farm buildings page — worth reading before you order materials.
My plan was written years ago. Is it still good?
Possibly not. Changes in herd size, acreage, land ownership, manure storage or operation ownership can all put an approved plan out of date. Send us what you have and we will tell you whether it still reflects the operation.
Do you still take on farm work, or is the focus moving to commercial?
Farm work is what this firm was built on and it remains our core business — the buildings as much as the plans. Same staff, same service, and now a deeper bench of engineering and stormwater capability behind it. If anything the commercial side has made us better at farm construction, because manure storages and barns answer to the same stormwater and erosion rules a commercial site does.
Not sure where you stand? Let's find out.
Send us what you have and we’ll tell you whether it still reflects the operation.