CITIZENS RESOLUTION FOR
SPRING 2025 WISCONSIN
CONSERVATION CONGRESS
Image Source: WI Department of Natural Resources
The State Conservation Commission (the predecessor of the Natural Resources Board) created the Conservation Congress in 1934. The purpose was to provide Wisconsin citizens with a local avenue for input and exchange concerning conservation issues. Each spring, citizens have the opportunity to submit resolutions for consideration at their county's Conservation Congress hearing. If approved by county residents, the resolution moves forward through a process and becomes a question on the next spring's statewide Conservation Congress ballot. The following is a resolution submitted for the Waupaca County WI Conservation Congress's Spring hearing. The resolution was passed by a 407-108 vote.
Title: Protecting our Farmland, Water, Fish, Wildlife, and Public Health from Toxic Industrial Food Waste By-Products (Digestate) Produced by On-Farm Co-digesters.
Issue: Co-digesters use microorganisms to break down multiple organic materials in a digester tank. On-farm manure/food waste co-digesters are touted as a solution for manure management and for processing industrial food waste. However, food waste is a catch-all term used by the waste industry to hide “dirtier substances including wastes from plastic food packaging, slaughterhouses, breweries, pet food manufacturing, milk production, and used fats and grease.
Farm co-digesters have less stringent regulations, oversight, and testing of the digestate than municipal/industrial facilities such as wastewater treatment plants or landfills. They destabilize the nutrients and when spread on farmland makes them more prone to runoff into surface waters and infiltration into groundwater. Co-digestion also exposes manure to contaminants that remain in digestate including forever chemicals, heavy metals, pesticides, antibiotic resistant pathogens, and microplastics producing a toxic brew harmful to humans, fish, and wildlife.
The State has a legal obligation to protect and manage our water, fish, wildlife and public health under the Public Trust Doctrine. When our lakes and streams are polluted and no longer safe to enjoy, when the abundance of fish and other wildlife is reduced, and when our water is not safe for drinking, the Public Trust Doctrine, a fundamental element of our Constitution, is violated.
Proposed resolution: Re-classifying digestate as agricultural waste simply because it went through a farm co-digester DOES NOT mean it is safe for field application. Digestate from farm-based co-digesters should be prohibited from being spread on farmland due to the dangers it poses to soil, water, fish, wildlife, and public health.
Do you support administrative and legislative actions to prohibit industrial food waste digestate from farm co-digesters to be spread on farmland or used for crop irrigation in order to protect our farmland, water, fish, wildlife, and rural residents from industrial pollution?