ANAEROBIC DIGESTER PROJECT TO CONVERT FARM WASTE INTO ENERGY FOR THOUSANDS OF CONNECTICUT HOMES

Media Release – September 12, 2022 – Connecticut, USA

The “Anaerobic Digester” project is a major alternate energy source that has outstanding local and regional impact in pollution reduction and sustainable renewable energy – and it is being built by a local Connecticut farming cooperative comprised of six individual family farms, not a huge international conglomerate.

In a precedent-setting partnership between the Farmer’s Cow Farming Cooperative, and Connecticut-based Circular Energy Group – the Farmer’s Cow has invested years of effort in developing and refining plans for the Anaerobic Digester project’s implementation – already completing a number of gas-line sourcing and distribution systems on their farm sites, and continuing their plan refinement and implementation for the full operation of the physical digester processing systems.  With a project completion date set for mid-2023, the Anaerobic Digesters will process manure from dairy and chicken farms in the region and produce Renewable Natural Gas (RNG).  Enough RNG will be produced to fully power the equivalent of approximately eight thousand homes.

The RNG, initially produced as “biogas,” will be refined on-site and injected into a natural gas pipeline which runs through the Farmer’s Cow-owned farm sites.  Also, fertilizer – a natural product of the digester system – will be delivered to participating farms, with energy for the farms and the digesters created on-site.  This will result in significant operational savings and enhanced sustainability (i.e., the negation of the carbon footprint) of those participating Farmer’s Cow farms, as well as to their partner farms and communities.

“We’ve been continuously working on our on-site farm infrastructure build-out for these Digester projects,” said Farmer’s Cow Chairman, Jim Smith, “and have been obtaining permits and refining designs as we modify the Digesters’ technical operation to achieve exactly what we’re seeking to accomplish – the ultra-efficient capture of methane, ammonium, and other pollutants normally inherent in most farming operations, and converting such to energy that will be able to benefit our own host-communities, as well as others seeking sustainable pollutant reduction and carbonless energy production.”

Once complete, the Farmer’s Cow’s combined Anaerobic Digesters, and their supporting farmland infrastructure, will be the center of one of the largest, most efficient, and climate-friendly digester operations in the Eastern US.  The Digester Systems will be sited on approximately 20 farm-owned acres, and are designed to digest and process manure from 6,500 dairy cows and approximately six million egg-laying chickens.  Upon completion, they will reduce carbon dioxide emissions equivalent to removing 7,000 gasoline/diesel-powered automobiles from our roads; plus produce enough energy, in power equivalence, to power 8,000 homes.   Unlike energy generated by other sources, energy production from Anaerobic Digesters is entirely sustainable and takes place 24 hours per day, 365 days a year.

Connecticut and its neighboring New England states have long led a series of supportive initiatives within the agricultural communities of the US, helping and promoting farms and farmland preservation, including agricultural programs and innovative related technologies – and with the Farmer’s Cow and Circular Energy Group’s unique partnership – the State of Connecticut continues to lead, and benefit from, this new technology and its greenhouse gas-capturing, pollution-mitigating, and sustainable energy-creating application.

“This is a fantastic project that I’m happy to have made possible by passing and funding legislation for Anaerobic Digesters this year,” said Connecticut State Senator Catherine Osten (D-Sprague), Senate Chair of the budget-writing Appropriations Committee. “Anaerobic Digesters are great for the environment and they’re also great for agricultural businesses that are facing rising energy, fertilizer and transportation costs.”

The collective companies operating under the Farmer’s Cow brand are the Farmer’s Cow LLC, the Farmer’s Cow Farming Cooperative, FC Development Corp., and the Farmer’s Cow Calfe & Creamery.

FC Development Corp. functions as a management and development entity for the Farmer’s Cow brand of companies, partnering with the Farmer’s Cow Collective of six Connecticut-based family farms, and leading the Farmer’s Cow Calfé & Creamery collection of restaurants and kiosks. The Farmer’s Cow, originally established in 2003, in Connecticut, serves many local and regional communities throughout nine states, including throughout New England.

For more information, contact: Steven Lane, Chief Development Officer at lane.s@fcdevcorp.com