In Massachusetts, Bar-Way Farm digests 36,500 tons of food waste and 9,125 tons of manure every year, producing enough electricity for 900 homes

In Deerfield, Massachusetts, a fifth-generation dairy farm has discovered an unusual way to convert trash into power. According to a project profile published by the US Environmental Protection Agency, Bar-Way Farm now runs an anaerobic digester that converts 36,500 tons of food waste and 9,125 tons of cow manure into energy each year. The system produces enough renewable energy to power about 900 homes, and it helps keep the 600-acre farm financially viable. For readers interested in climate change and practical economics, the farm offers a concrete example of a circular economy in action.

What is actually happening on this farm

The Bar-Way Farm has been in the Melnik family since 1919. Currently, the farm belongs to Steven Melnik and his son Peter, who milk more than 250 dairy cows, producing 1,700 gallons of milk per day. Apart from dairy production, the farm raises hay, straw, pumpkins, butternut squash, and garlic. In 2016, the family entered into a partnership with Vanguard Renewables, a company dealing with renewable energy. The EPA profile explains that the partnership works under the third-party business model, whereby the Vanguard company designs, builds, and operates the digester, while the farm provides both the manure and the space. According to Peter Melnik, this partnership helps Northeast dairy farms stay sustainable because they have more food waste and more land than manure.


How the digester turns garbage into electricity

The process begins with waste. About 100 tons of food waste is transported every day from the local supermarkets, restaurants, and food processors, while 25 tons of manure is obtained from the cows raised on Bar-Way Farm itself. Next, the waste is loaded into a 100,000-gallon hydrolyzer, where it is broken down and mixed at about 105 degrees Fahrenheit for four to five days, according to the EPA's project profile. This is important because the digester at Bar-Way Farm was the first in the nation to use a hydrolyzer, a point also noted in that profile.

From there, the waste moves into a 700,000-gallon digester tank, where it decomposes without oxygen. Bacteria inside the tank release methane gas as they digest the material, and that methane fuels a one-megawatt generator. The setup produces about 7,700 megawatt-hours of electricity a year, along with roughly 1.62 million BTUs of heat every hour, some of which warms farm buildings while the rest is uploaded to the local Eversource grid.

Why keeping food waste out of landfills matters so much

It may seem odd that food scraps can power hundreds of homes, but the climate math is real. A federal report on landfilled food waste found that food waste makes up approximately 58 percent of the fugitive methane emitted from municipal solid waste landfills in the U.S. Methane is a much more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide in the short term, so taking food scraps out of landfills does real work in cutting emissions. Massachusetts requires this kind of diversion by law. According to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, the state banned businesses generating a ton or more of food waste a week from sending it to landfills, effective October 1, 2014, which is part of why the digester has such a steady supply of local feedstock.

The science behind mixing manure and food scraps

Several studies show the reason behind the effectiveness of combining manure with food waste. A peer-reviewed paper titled ‘Biogas production from food waste via co-digestion and digestion- effects on performance and microbial ecology’ published in Scientific Reports found that a combination of food waste with cow manure yielded 26% higher levels of methane than digesting the two materials separately. The authors said that feeding different substrates into the anaerobic digester helps balance nutrients and moisture, creating better conditions for the bacteria. This is consistent with what happens in Deerfield, where food waste is mixed with manure.

More than just power

The benefits extend beyond electricity. Solid matter produced after the digestion is used to make bedding for the cows on the farm, while the liquid effluent, about 26,000 gallons per day, is made into an odorless fertilizer for the hay fields, per the EPA profile. That same profile also says the process reduces odor for neighbors, protects local water resources by reducing nutrient run-off, and reduces pathogens in manure. The farm also hosts educational visits from local schools, colleges, and universities. Funding support for the project came from a $335,000 grant from the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service and a $400,000 grant from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. The project later received two awards: the 2018 Organics Recycler of the Year award from the National Waste and Recycling Association and a 2018 Hospitality Award from the American Biogas Council. Bar-Way Farm's story is a reminder that some of the biggest climate wins can come from rethinking waste most people never think twice about.