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Farm biogas systems making progress

John Oncken  —  6/29/2007 11:33 am

A recent headline from a news release issued by the governor's office read "Gov. Doyle Touts Bio-Initiative To Achieve Energy Independence." The sub-headline read "New Waterloo Biogas Plant Example of Economic Development Potential."

The five paragraph statement went on to describe how "the state's, and the country's newest biogas system at the Crave Brothers Farm in Waterloo ... using organic farm waste to generate enough clean and renewable energy to power 200 homes, advancements that help bring Wisconsin closer to energy independence."

Nowhere in the news release is there any mention of cow manure or people complaining about odor or of farmers spreading it on hillsides or along streams.

Rather, the release mentions how "the facility uses waste from 750 cows and a cheese plant, and converts it to electricity. Through anaerobic digestion, the system naturally breaks down carbon-rich products in organic matter to produce biogas."

The governor's office was referring to a manure digester installed and owned by Clear Horizons, LLC, a Milwaukee-based firm on the Crave farm. An open house was held this week.

It was indeed impressive.

The idea is far from new. There are about 20 other manure digesters currently in operation on Wisconsin dairy farms with several others being built and many more in the planning stage.

Most of the existing manure digesters in Wisconsin (and across the U.S.,) are owned by the farm families who own the dairies. They have done the research in a very rapidly changing technology, borrowed money, hired a contractor and built the digester. No easy task.

Estimates are that current digesters cost from $1.5 million to $2 million without counting family time, labor and many other costs to rearrange farmsteads and change the dairy operation.

That's a lot of money even for the most progressive and devoted dairy farm family. But, as with any business, there are ways to get where you want to go. And the Crave Brothers (Charles, Tom, George and Mark) did a lot of looking.

The Crave Brothers dairy has long been considered one of the nation's premier dairy operations. They have been milking 500 cows for many years and built and operate Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese in a factory on the farm.

Clear Horizons, LLC dates back to the mid-1940s and has 1,000 employees in 22 divisions. They know engineering, construction and business. And, most important, Clear Horizons is familiar with water treatment systems.

The two businesses came together to form an unusual arrangement: Clear Horizons provided the expertise to build the high tech manure digester-biogas facility while Crave Brothers provide the organic raw material (manure).

The result is a good fit. The system offers the Craves an outlet for the daily 25,000 to 30,000 gallons of liquid manure from their now 750 high producing dairy cows and a handy supply of bedding for those animals. And the Craves didn't have to borrow $2 million-plus to build the worry-free, high-tech system.

Clear Horizons put up the money and hopes to recoup that and more through sales of the electricity produced in the process, by selling the manure solids as EnerGro, their branded flower and plant potting mix, and in carbon credits.

Their challenge is that current rates paid by WE Energy, the local electrical utility, are too low to make electricity from the system a profit center; the potting mix is just being test marketed, and the carbon credit issue is still a bit up in the air.

Dick Pieper, chairman of PPC Partners, owners of Clear Horizons, admits that higher rates are needed for the electricity generated on the farm,.

Why did Clear Horizons get involved in farm systems? Pieper says they have the expertise and want to be involved in using biomass to provide green energy. He figures that 8 percent of the state's electricity could come from dairy farm generation.

As for the Craves, Charles said the brothers determined that owning a digester was not the "best return" for their family farm. They do need the nutrients for their 1,500 acres of cropland and the solids as bedding for the cows. "This way we can do it without investing more money or adding people," he says.

Dan Nemke, general manager of Clear Horizons, admits his company is probably a year or two ahead of the game for marketing electricity and fertilizer. But they now have a reliable farm biogas system in place.

How can other, smaller farms take advantage of manure digestion, methane production and the other factors that large dairies can use to their advantage?

Holding tanks and lagoons are currently being used on many smaller family farms in accordance with a host of environmental rules and regulations. Some communities, including a few in Dane County, are studying the possibility of central digesters.

Nemke suggests we may see a farm-to-farm pickup similar to the current milk hauling system. He also says that technology will have to come up with other uses for the byproducts, conversion to natural gas being one example.

The biogas production from manure is at about where the auto industry was when the Ford Model T came out -- one color, one style, slow, boxy and bland.

But it's progressing quickly.

John Oncken is owner of Oncken Communications, a Madison-based agricultural information and consulting company. He can be reached at 222-0624, fax 222-7775 or e-mail jfodairy@chorus.net

John Oncken  —  6/29/2007 11:33 am