Vendors show off the future of sustainability in agriculture at farm show
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Sustainable solutions in the agricultural industry were on display at this year’s outdoor farm show.
An area beside the lagoon in the show was dedicated to showcasing companies that are working toward making the agricultural business more sustainable.
First there was a tent showcasing the work of Parrish and Heimbecker (P&H) Limited and its subsidiary New-Life Mills.
Sherry Slejska, marketing specialist with New-Life Mills, explained how the two companies are working toward being more sustainable.
“We believe the future of (agriculture) is sustainability,” Slejska said. “We have to be part of the solution… We want to make sure that we’re not only producing nutritious food for the consumer but that we’re also building into the agricultural industry as a whole, so that it’s profitable for producers and business. But we also want to make sure that we’re using our resources wisely.”
The average grain consumption of people in Canada alone is 82 kg per person annually, and Slejska said that P&H and New-Life Mills recognize that food needs to continue to be made available as the populations increase.
One way these companies are working to become more sustainable is by reusing materials in other areas.
“To make it available we need to use every resource we have the best we can,” she said. “One of the ways we do this as a company is that we have a milling operation that uses wheat and makes it into flour… When you manufacture wheat and mill it you get shorts, what we call wheat shorts. It’s a byproduct that’s not used for flour, so we use it in the animal feed division.
“Consumers don’t understand that there are byproducts that come from all of these industries, when you are taking these raw goods, there are parts that are not going to be used,” Slejska added. “But those parts can be used in other parts of the industries, or other industries. So we’re making sure that internally we’re using them and if we can’t use them internally we’re finding other homes for them.”
Also on display at the farm show was Rural Green Energy, who were showing off their plans to construct an Anaerobic Digestion facility, which would harness the untapped renewable energy potential of organic waste.
Mark Shulman, a sales consultant for Every Viable Option and representative of Rural Green Energy, explained how Anaerobic Digestion works.
“It takes organic waste and transfers it into methane gas, which is then filtered and compressed and pumped back into the pipeline,” Shulman said. “Then it’s pushed up the road and sold to a retail user in an automotive application, whether it’s a commercial truck or a gasoline powered vehicle.”
The entire process is 100 per cent renewable, Shulman said, adding that this will be the first in Ontario.
“This is not operational as of yet,” Shulman said. “I think by sometime in 2017 we should be there. Our fill station, which is the first part of this project, we plan to have it up and operational by mid to late November.”
The fueling station will be located in Woodstock and will offer renewable gas on a commercial level.
Finally, Premier Power Projects was at the show displaying net metering, which can be done on a small residential scale or on a larger agricultural or commercial scale.
“The idea behind it is that all of the power you produce from solar panels is directly used by the property to offset your existing utility bill,” Dan Hoffman, project manager for Premier, said. “We take a look at your hydro bill and your annual consumption, we’ll size the system to produce about 90 per cent of your annual production and then that directly loads your hydro.”
Hoffman said that this will lock in people’s electricity rates for the next 20 to 35 years, which is the life of the system, meaning that there will be an eight year payback for users.
“The money that you save from not having to pay hydro is going to pay for the system,” he said. “After eight years you’re going to continue to produce electricity and you’re not going to have that cost anymore.”