Gills Onions Taps Sustainable Methods to Bring Tears of Profitable Joy

Steven Gill, co-owner of Gills Onions in the field. Photo Credit: Gills Onions.

It’s enough to make you cry. Gills Onions is one of the largest family-owned onion farming operations in the nation. But the Oxnard-based facility doesn’t just grow the tears-provoking vegetable. They control every aspect of production from growing, harvesting, processing, packing and shipping the bulbs in handy, diced up packages to retailers, food service outlets and industrial manufacturers throughout the nation and Canada. And they do so using some surprising sustainable production practices that have lowered their operating costs over a million dollars a year.

Allen Gill had been farming in California’s Central Valley since the 1940s when he brought sons Steven and David into his Rio Farms business. Read More

Green Waste Recycler Finds Profit in Organic Compost and Big Picture Thinking

Photo: Agromin

When our second American president, John Adams, visited England on a diplomatic mission, he famously walked right to the compost pile of his distinguished host’s barnyard, plunged in his hands and said, “Well, this may be good manure, but it’s not equal to mine.”

Like our early forefathers – who were farmers before they were politicians – companies like Ventura, California-based Agromin recognize the importance of good dirt to our nation’s ongoing health and prosperity. For some 20 years, Agromin has been taking municipal and county green waste from Orange County to Santa Barbara and converting it into a variety of soil amendments that are organic, nutrient-rich and friendly to the earth. Read More

Ohio Agriculture Research and Development Center Receives $6.5M Grant for Biogas, Bioenergy Research

News Release — WOOSTER, Ohio – Ohio State University’s Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) has received a $6.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Energy to test and expand a university-developed technology that can produce biogas from a variety of solid organic wastes and bioenergy crops.

Awarded through the Biomass Research Development Initiative (BRDI), the three-year grant will also allow researchers to develop technology for converting biogas to liquid hydrocarbon fuels, with the aim of further diversifying the country’s currently available suite of renewable transportation fuels. Read More

USDA Announces Funding to Help Ag Producers Integrate Renewable Energy Tech into Operations

News Release – WASHINGTON – Oct. 19, 2012 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced funding for 244 projects nationwide that are focused on helping agricultural producers and rural small businesses reduce energy consumption and costs, and use renewable energy technologies in their operations. Funding is made available through USDA’s Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). Read More

New York’s Largest On-Farm Biogas Power Project Generates Renewable Energy for Nearly 1,000 Homes

Synergy Biogas LLC codigestion biogas power plant at Synergy Dairy, Covington, N.Y. (Photo: Business Wire)

News Release – COVINGTON, N.Y. – (BUSINESS WIRE) – U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) joined state and local officials today at the grand opening of New York state’s largest on-farm, ‘co-digestion’ biogas power project, marking an important boost to the state’s renewable energy production and sustainability efforts. The facility is located at Synergy Dairy, a 2,000-head dairy farm in Covington, Wyoming County, southwest of Rochester. Read More

Vermont Cow Power Program Makes Most Out of Manure, Benefits Farmers and Environment

Some might underestimate the power behind a cow—or let’s just say the power that comes from a cow’s behind.

But that’s not the case with electric utility Central Vermont Public Service (CVPS), which uses its Cow Power program to make the most out of cow manure while simultaneously lowering the manure’s negative impacts on the environment and benefiting farmers’ bottom lines.

By partnering with the Cow Power program, 10 dairy farms in Vermont have been able to acquire anaerobic digesters for their farms. The digesters are used to turn cow manure into renewable energy, which is sold back to the utility and then purchased by local customers who are willing to pay a little bit extra for the cleaner power. The process also leads to the production of things like bedding material and compost, which can be sold by the farms or used directly on their own operations. Read More

Chicago Org. Aims to Transform Industrial Blight into Sustainable Urban Farm and Food Business Incubator

Chicago builder, John Edel has embarked upon a seemingly impossible mission: to convert a 93,500 sq. ft. pork processing plant into The Plant, a sustainable closed-loop food business incubator housing aquaponic farming systems, hydroponics, vertical farms, rooftop gardens, private kitchens, two breweries, a bakery, a catering company, and a five-station shared kitchen.

Oh yeah, and he plans to power the whole thing solely on food waste. “Nothing but food leaves the building. That’s the plan and the mantra,” Edel says. According to its website, The Plant will eventually divert over 10,000 tons of food waste from landfills each year to meet all of its heat and power needs. Read More

In Creating Fleet of Sustainable, Urban Farmers, Milwaukee-based Growing Power Seeks to End World Hunger

Will Allen, CEO and founder of Growing Power, Inc., has a straightforward goal – to end world hunger.

“It’s a lofty goal, but that’s how things should be,” said Allen, a sharecropper’s son who was a professional basketball player when he rediscovered his love for agriculture. “The only way to end world hunger is the local food system that we used to have. … Everybody would buy local food if it was available. We don’t have the infrastructure right now, so one of the things I wanted to do is prove that this could be done and this could be cash-flowed.” Read More

Atlanta’s Bioponica Seeks to Close Loop on Hydroponic and Aquaponic Farming

The term sustainable farming has been creeping steadily into the vernacular, popping up in business plans, on food blogs, and at local farmers’ markets around the country. David Epstein, D.O. and Kenneth Lovell, P.E. of Bioponica™ hope to usher new farmers into the world of sustainable agriculture through their unique design and method of soilless, closed-loop, farming.  Read More

Wisconsin’s Future Farm Packs Sustainable Punch with Cow Powered Aquaponics Operation

The owners of aquaponics-focused Future Farm Food and Fuel, LLC know how to maximize their resources.

The company’s operations take place out of a 27,000-square-foot greenhouse in Baldwin, Wisc., which houses fish tanks and growing bays that contain herbs and vegetables. Tubes run back and forth between the tanks and growing bays, recirculating water, otherwise known as effluent. Read More