The Rural Voice, 2019-01, Page 31time significant. Labour isn’t
physical. Rather, it’s a process of
flipping switches.
“It certainly doesn’t require an
engineering degree to operate,” says
Rob.
“I wish I could stress to other
farmers that this is a good thing.
Before this was installed, it was kind
of an unknown. I’m hoping this one
will take the idea out of the fringe.”
So does Hawkes. As the man who
did the legwork seeking government
approval, building permits,
organizing farm integration and
much of the adaptive work required
to properly integrate the system on a
farm, he is keen to see biodigesters
take off. Now in partnership with the
Martin Energy Group, the
biodigesters are being manufactured
in North American with Canadian
technicians stationed in Leamington
and Kitchener. Two more
biodigesters are being installed in
Vermont and Pennsylvania but
uptake in Ontario is slower.
Hawkes expects that is because
farmers are wary of how the new
NAFTA agreement will unfold. Also,
farmers are waiting for green energy
incentive packages to help with costs
and payback time frames. “Farmers
can make use of net metering but it
doesn’t quite make payback as
attractive as most farmers want it to
be.”
However, the younger generation,
with their commitment to recycling
and sustainability love the concept.
Also, they see from McInlays project
that micro digesters work without
intense labour requirements, such as
larger biodigesters which use a
multitude of additional byproducts.
Hawkes estimates a new micro
digester like McKinlay’s would cost
in the area of $350,000. The
biodigesters are ideal for dairy and
hog farms with liquid manure.
Manure needs to be in a slurry format
to work in a biodigeter. The system
wouldn’t work on farms that use sand
for bedding. “Sand is inert and fills
up the tank,” explained Hawkes.
Farmers interested in installing an
on-farm digester can fill an online
questionnaire and will know in
“about 10 minutes” if they are good
candidates for the project, concluded
Hawkes. ◊
January 2019 27
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