Many organizations such as the Georgia Poultry Federation and the Georgia Pork Producers have established initiatives to assist producers to better manage nutrients on the farm. A Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plan looks at how nutrients are used and managed throughout the farm. It is more than a nutrient management plan that only looks at nutrient supply and needs for a particular field. Nutrients are brought to the farm through feeds, fertilizers, animal manures and other off-farm inputs. These inputs are used, and some are recycled by plants and animals on the farm.
Nutrients leave the farm in harvested crops and animal products.
These are nutrient outputs. Ideally, nutrient inputs and outputs should be roughly the same. When the inputs to the farm greatly exceed outputs from the farm, the risk of nutrient losses to groundwater and surface water is greater. When you check nutrient inputs against nutrient outputs, you are creating a mass balance. This nutrient mass balance is an important part of a CNMP and important to understand for your farming operation.