Press

Watch the video about Quasar’s digester project based in Wooster, OH.  The video explains how anaerobic digestion works and the digester is the prototype that will be used for the Massachusetts farm projects.
http://www.schmackbioenergy.com/pages/newsbig10.html

American Farmland Trust (AFT) has released a comprehensive study analyzing existing data and cost-benefit studies to assess the effects of climate change legislation on the agricultural economies of Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico.

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland walked the grounds of a construction site that promises clean energy, a better environment and more jobs for Ohioans.

Gov. Ted Strickland (right) checks out Quasar Energy Group’s anaerobic digester facility in the BioHio Research Park on the campus of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, Wooster. Strickland said he sees no downside to what Quasar is doing in converting biomass to energy.

In search of on farm diversity, Melnik and four other dairies are embarking on a methane digester project with far-reaching implications for farmers, energy, the environment and a sustainable future for the region.

BOSTON – Keeping with Governor Deval Patrick’s commitment to preserve Massachusetts farms, the Department of Agricultural Resources (DAR) today announced the administration has targeted nearly $1 million toward agricultural economic viability projects in rural areas during FY 2009, while preserving 1,626 acres of farmland with five- or ten-year covenants.

When Deerfield farmer Peter Melnik heard about a machine that would make energy from cow manure, he was immediately intrigued. Not only would using it make his dairy farm more environmentally friendly, the technology could bring in extra cash by converting methane, an odorous and potent greenhouse gas, into electricity that could be sold to the regional power grid.

A consortium of six dairy farmers in Massachusetts have joined forces to create AGreen Energy—a group aimed at reducing their carbon footprint on the state and local level, generating renewable power and preserving the rural agricultural communities in the state.

In the United States, the cows, chickens, pigs and sheep we raise for food release 28 percent of all methane gas. About 85 percent of this methane is produced while animals chew and process their food but 15 percent of animal agricultural methane emissions are released from the “lagoons” used to store untreated farm animal waste—waste that we might be able to turn into electrical energy, eliminating the methane in the process.

As you may have heard, on December 15th the USDA recognized the work of dairy producers and the dairy industry with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which identifies ways that the USDA plans to partner with and support the dairy industry in continuing to improve sustainability.