Oregon Dairy Organics turn cowpies into profit

The infamous time-traveling bad guy Biff from the Back To The Future films is famously averse to manure. And why wouldn’t he be? It doesn’t take a dump truck of the stuff burying you in your ’46 Ford to steer clear of manure. But for some reason, the folks at Oregon Dairy Organics have no qualms with the stuff. In fact, they believe, animal waste might save the world.

On April 19, Pennsylvania Agricultural Secretary Russell Redding and Environmental Defense Fund’s project manager Suzy Friedman broke ground on a new composting facility that will work with farmers to turn their manure and other animal waste into compost. And while the EPA lists varied composting benefits from preventing plant diseases to cheaply removing air pollution, Pennsylvania’s agricultural compost plan is very specific.

“Knowing the important role Pennsylvania plays in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, we must find innovative ways to protect our natural resources and increase the profitability of our farms,” says Redding. “The Oregon Dairy Organics team has created a model that will benefit the community, the farms and our waterways.”

Using animal waste as a profitable mulch material is not a new concept. But in order to see real environmental impact, farmers need to get out of the backyard and combine their efforts. The Oregon Dairy Organics facility provides one place to handle multiple waste streams but avoids the size, traffic and hauling expenses of a larger-scale facility. And the best part about it is all the partners are local.

Managing the sales of the compost product is Terra-Gro, a professional trucking and composting firm out of Nottingham, Bucks County. And the namesake behind this project, Oregon Dairy, is a farm in Manheim township that the Hurst family turned into a market, a restaurant and an ice cream shop over the last 40 years. In that time, the family has fought for environmental causes and called on farmers across the state to participate in organic practices like composting. With this plant, he says, farmers once again have the opportunity to protect our environmental landmarks.

“This project is another example of the positive steps farmers can and are taking to clean up both Lancaster County streams and the Chesapeake Bay in an economically sustainable way,” says George Hurst. “As a result of this project, manure, yard waste, and food waste will become an asset to agriculture and the Chesapeake Bay region.”

Source: Russell Redding, PA Agricultural Secretary
George Hurst, Owner of Oregon Dairy Organics
Writer: John Steele