The Rural Voice, 2019-06, Page 34 Plus, he loves the circular concept
of making the most of the farm’s
resources. Not only does the farm
manure and organic waste create
energy, it also creates a rich fertilizer
for spreading on crop yields.
“It’s value added ... you get more
out of what you produce,” says Dave.
So while farmers wait for future
funding to encourage and promote
the greater use of renewable energy
sources, learning from the process at
Greenholm Farms can prepare them
if/when that funding appears.
Gord and Dave Green milk 250
Holstein cattle at the sixth
generation dairy farm and it’s
a busy place. Off-shore workers are
cleaning in the dairy barn while Dave
hauls tankers of liquid manure and
Gord walks in with his barn clothes,
clearly busy as well. Trucks roll in,
bringing in a variety of materials
including soluble corn distillers
(discarded because of high levels of
DOM), off-spec milk, grease trap
waste, surplus whey, apple waste
(cores, peels and pulp) and potatoes
to feed the biodigesters.
It’s a bit of a muddy mess with
this wet spring weather and there is
finishing work to be done after the
second digester was installed in
2018.
Before installing both digesters,
the Greens researched how much the
the hydro component would cost.
Digesters sized 200 kw and above
need to hook into a three-phase
circuit and they aren’t available
everywhere. The closest one to the
Green farm was on the
next concession which,
luckily, the farm could
reach through its own
fields. They installed
the lines themselves.
That saved a LOT of
money as connecting
the digesters to a three-
phase circuit can cost
up to $200,000 per
kilometre.
“There’s always lots
of interest in
biodigesters but a lot of
people get stopped
because they don’t have
access to a three-phase
circuit,” said Dave.
30 The Rural Voice
Engines (right) generate a lot
of heat in the two anerobic
biodigestors (bottom) at
Greenholm Farms owned by
Gord Green and son Dave
Green (middle) who was
spreading liquid manure the
day of this interview.