Useful Crap

A Skagit County firm is banking on a new cash cow—one that actually comes out of the cow. After opening its first anaerobic manure digester in Mount Vernon in 2009, Farm Power is using government grants and loans to build another unit outside of Lynden this year.

Farm Power’s owners, brothers Kevin and Daryl Mass, will locate their digester on two acres owned by a local greenhouse nursery grower. Using methane gas from the manure of more than 2,000 cows in Skagit County will create enough electricity to power 500 homes.

The digesters, built by Ferndale’s Andgar Corp. using technology from partner GHD Inc. of Wisconsin, employ heat and bacteria to convert environmentally damaging methane into a biogas similar to natural gas. The electricity produced is sold to local utilities and used on the farm as a substitute for purchased power.

The solid manure is turned into a clean fiber for animal bedding (another cost savings), while the liquid portion serves as fertilizer. The process reduces water pollution and methane emissions that are a current byproduct of cow manure left to biodegrade in the open air.

Andgar also built Lynden’s first anaerobic digester on Darryl Vander Haak’s farm. Kyle Juergens, Andgar’s project development manager, says that Andgar hopes to be the main provider of digesters in the Northwest. Already, Andgar digesters are used in four locations in Washington and Idaho.

The future of Farm Power and digesters hinges on the future of dairy farming. “We would love to build more,” Kevin Mass says. “We need to make sure there will be enough manure available in 10 to 20 years.”

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