FRESH PAINT U.S. GAIN SECURES DAIRY RNG OFFTAKE WITH ENTECH SOLUTIONS U.S. Gain, a division of Wisconsin-based U.S. Venture Inc. and a leader in the development and distribution of alternative fuel and renewable energy, recently announced a new offtake agreement with EnTech Solutions at their agricultural biodigester near Madison, Wis. This project is a partnership between EnTech Solutions, Northern Biogas, and four local Dane County dairy farms where agricultural waste is processed in digester tanks to produce renewable natural gas (RNG) that will be used as an alternative fuel in the California transportation market. The digester facility had previously produced electricity but has been repurposed to produce RNG that can be easily injected into the natural gas pipeline and distributed throughout the nation.
In this case, U.S. Gain is sending RNG from Madison to their fleet customers in California where transportation-related emission reductions are a priority.
CHONEX OFFERS AN AFFORDABLE SOLUTION TO SKYROCKETING FERTILIZER PRICES Alabama AgTech firm CHONEX produces STRONGSOIL, a microbial concentrate that restores a thriving microbe population to soil. “Healthy soil is living soil. Unfortunately, decades of chemical-intensive agriculture have depleted agricultural soil of the microbes that are essential to plant growth,” said Michael Lynch, CHONEX founder and CEO. Some growers are cutting back on fertilizer to save money, knowing that they might sacrifice yield at harvest. Lynch recommends that farmers maintain crop quality by using STRONGSOIL alongside their reduced fertilizer application. Now in its second year of field trials, STRONGSOIL will be used in 50 trials in 10 states, including Grand Farm Education and Research Initiative in North Dakota, which is focused on developing the future farm. STRONGSOIL is produced from layer chicken manure in egg production. CHONEX has developed a proprietary process utilizing the black soldier fly to consume the manure, converting it to frass and destroying the harmful pathogens that can inhabit
manure. The result is a granular, lightweight product that is brewed into a STRONGSOIL Tea, which is then applied to soil, inoculating it with hundreds of millions beneficial live microbes per milliliter. Key to STRONGSOIL’s functionality is the consistency of the product and the breadth of microbe biodiversity. In addition to benefiting farmers, STRONGSOIL benefits the environ-
20 | Journal of Nutrient Management | August 2022
F3 20 Aug 2022 Fresh Paint.indd 2
A unique attribute of this project that amplifies its positive environmental impact is the incorporation of a renewable energy microgrid onsite. Featuring solar panels and batteries, this microgrid has an output of more than 2.8 megawatts (MW) of clean energy generation — the equivalent of powering more than 400 homes. This increases energy efficiency and further reduces the RNG’s carbon intensity (CI) score. Microgrid use in agricultural applications is still a relatively new concept, but as projects like this come online successfully, other digester operations will see it as a viable solution. U.S. Gain continues to find innovative ways to optimize gas production at their more than 30 RNG development sites. For more information on partnering with U.S. Gain, visit usgain.com.
ment in multiple ways, by upcycling layer chicken manure, reducing the amount of fertilizer used, and reducing reliance on agricultural pesticides and herbicides. Reducing the amount of fertilizer used also reduces the amount of fertilizer that is washed into waterways and solubilized into the air. By adding microbes to the soil, STRONGSOIL enhances the soil’s ability to absorb and store CO2 and counter greenhouse gas emissions. More information is available at STRONGSOIL.com.
jofnm.com
7/21/22 8:31 AM
