Massachusetts farm turning poop into power

RUTLAND – A Massachusetts farm is popping cow poop into energy – and revenue.

At Jordan Dairy Farm in Rutland, the cows are doing two issues – producing milk and poop, lot’s of poop. Cow manure to be particular. 

That will appear to be a smelly drawback. But it surely’s how the farm is being powered.

“I feel one among our largest payments years in the past that got here to us was power,” Randy Jordan stated.

Jordan is a fifth-generation farmer and the co-owner of Jordan Dairy Farm. And he has seen a rise in manufacturing value through the years.

“Milk costs are nonetheless the identical as we speak as they had been 50 years in the past. However that is the one factor that’s the identical worth within the dairy world,” Jordan stated.

In an effort to save cash, Jordan appeared into renewable power.

“Photo voltaic as a complete is a good idea, however on a day like as we speak, we do not have a whole lot of solar, proper? However what? We received lots manure as we speak,” Jordan stated.

So when the 2014 meals waste ban went into impact for the Bay State, his farm was on the forefront to recycle meals waste into clear power.

“We had been first within the state to be licensed to convey meals waste right into a facility like this,” Jordan stated.

Among the many tools on the farm is an anaerobic digestor, one of many first within the state. It takes in 75 tons of meals waste a day, together with 25 tons of manure. Collectively they’ll energy 1,600 houses a day.

“So we take the gasoline that is produced from the meals waste and the manure, from all of the cows which can be right here on the farm. Acquire that gasoline, we dry it, and we burn it in a generator, to make electrical energy,” John Hanselman, founder and chief technique officer of Vangaurd Renewables stated.

That electrical energy powers the farm, however can also be despatched again into the grid and now powering native corporations and colleges which can be a part of the Farm Powered Strategic Alliance.

That could be a community of 5 digesters throughout the state. It contains the Jordan Dairy Farm places in Rutland and Spencer, in addition to Bar-Approach Farm in Deerfield, Crescent Farm in Haverhill, and Barstow’s Longview Farm in Hadley.

The community offers main corporations a spot to ship their meals waste in return for low-cost renewable power.

The businesses making the most of the power embrace Starbucks, Dairy Farmers of America, Cabot Creamery, Chobani, Polar Drinks, Smithfield Meals, Stonyfield Natural, Unilever, Meals Tank, Hillebrand, Kikkoman, and Schreiber Meals.

“So Polar Drinks sends us meals waste, we flip it into renewable electrical energy and we ship them again the electrical energy right here. Seems to be tremendous easy, however really massively impactful on our future,” Hanselman stated.

One other profit to the farm is the byproduct, an odorless natural liquid fertilizer that will get put again into the sector. It’s a full circle in sustainable farming.  

“I feel that our best hope is that folks see how efficient that is, how environment friendly that is and the way impactful that is. Not simply to our neighborhood, however to our household farmers,” Hanselman stated.

And all it takes is one step.

“Simply educating the neighborhood, and educating meals manufactures and colleges, that they’ll do that would not require them to do something totally different than what they’re doing as we speak, however put issues into a distinct bucket,” Hanselman stated.