A Kewaunee County farm has started to implement an agreement with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources that settled a lawsuit over its wastewater permit.
In March, The Wisconsin Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee approved the deal unanimously. According to an analysis of the deal by the Legislature’s attorneys, the deal settles allegations that Kinnard Farms improperly spread manure in Kewaunee and Door counties between 2018 and 2022, failed to timely submit an engineering evaluation for a feed storage area, and failed to timely submit annual nutrient management plan updates.
The settlement calls for Kinnard Farms to upgrade two waste storage facilities and a feed storage area and pay $215,000. The operation has more than 8,000 dairy cattle.
Kinnard Farms sued the DNR in April 2022 after the agency attached requirements to the company’s wastewater permit limiting the size of its herd and mandating groundwater monitoring areas with nitrate pollution. Kinnard Farms argued that the business will suffer if it can’t expand its herd and groundwater monitoring is too expensive.
Under the settlement, Kinnard plans to stop spreading liquid manure within four years by installing a state of the art manure handling system.
Kinnard Farms said in a statement that the new system will transform liquid manure into three separate and pathogen-free products: clean water, dry organic fertilizer and an organic ammonia fertilizer. The technology will remove most of the truck traffic from local roads and greatly reduce the need for long-term storage of liquid manure in lagoons.
“Removal of the water from the manure hastens our ability to increase our family’s already extensive use of regenerative agricultural practices, allowing us to plant cover crops and eliminate tillage on an even greater number of our fields,” said Lee Kinnard. “These practices are proven to regenerate soil health, prevent erosion and sequester carbon, and are highly protective of water quality.”
The agreement has milestones and Kinnard Farms will provide periodic updates to the DNR.
