Get to know The Farmland Preservation Program

One of the most important Farmland Preservation Program (FPP) standards that applies to every farm is the requirement to have an annual nutrient management plan (590). Weather your farm has manure to handle, is cash grain only or you simply rent out your land, every participant must have one.

Nutrient management refers to the use of manure and or fertilizers to meet crop nutrient needs while reducing the potential for runoff from fields to streams and groundwater. It helps assure that crops get the right amount of nutrients at the right time. This benefits the farmer by improving crop yields and reducing fertilizer costs.

In the past, we allowed only the nutrient management (590) checklist to be submitted. However, this has led to some confusion from those who only thought that they needed to fill out the checklist and not actually have a plan to back it up. To correct this, we will now be requiring everyone to submit their plan and maps. All planners are required to use the free software program called Snap-Plus, which can be found by following this link: https://snapplus.wisc.edu/. You can either send us the complete “database file” or print off the following reports:

• NM2 “Compliance Check”
• NM3 “Field Data and 590 Assessment”
• NM5 “Spreading and Nutrient Management Sorted by Crop”
• NM8 “590 Checklist”

Nutrient management plans are due July 15^th along with the annual certification that participants will be receiving this spring. Keep in mind failure to comply with this requirement will result in the loss of tax credits for the 2025 tax year. If you have not updated your nutrient management plan you may want to contact your agronomist to get started.

All 2025 nutrient management plans that are being emailed should go to

clohry@co.dodge.wi.us or landcons@co.dodge.wi.us.