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Feedstock: Sunflowers, soybeans and canola

Fuel: Biodiesel

Co-products: High-protein sunflower meal as feed ingredient

Energy Output: Power (for farm machinery) and heat (for farmhouse)

Services: Oilseed Grower, Oil milling, Feed Supply

Owner: Larry Scott and Peggy Hewes

Location: Newbury, Vermont

Larry Scott and Peggy Hewes operate Ekolott Farm—a diversified farm raising emus, Herefords, and hogs, and growing feed and energy crops such as shell corn, sunflowers, and soybeans on 200 acres of Connecticut River valley land. Ekolott produces biodiesel to fuel a portion of their tractor work, all of their own heat and an increasing amount of the feed ingredients for their animals, including grains and sunflower seed meal.

Ekolott is a three-generation dairy farm that moved to Vermont from Massachusetts in 1980. The farm consistently achieved Vermont milk quality awards with their 220 registered Holsteins, until the cows were sold in 2004.

Diversification of the farm had already begun in 1994 when the Scott family began raising emus (they are currently the largest and one of the oldest emu farms in Vermont, under the name Riverside Emus). With barns and pasture freed up after the dairy herd was sold, the Scott-Hewes took on raising Herefords and hogs and have been developing a local customer base for their beef, pork, and emu through on-farm and farmers’ market sales.

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Feedstock: Sunflowers, canola, switchgrass

Fuel: Biodiesel and grass pellets

Energy Output: Power (for farm machinery) and heat

Services: Oilseed and Grain Grower, Oil milling, Biomass Pelletizing, Fuel Processing, Feed Supply

Owner: Roger and Claire Rainville

Location: Alburgh, Vermont; Grand Isle County

Having sold his dairy herd several years ago and thinking he was heading into semi-retirement, Roger Rainville began experimenting with farm-scale biodiesel production on his family farm in northern Vermont, which literally hugs the Canadian border.

The University of Vermont (UVM) now leases a number of acres from the Rainvilles as Borderview Farm has become one of the best-known applied research facilities in Vermont.  Roger, along with Dr. Heather Darby, a UVM Extension agronomist, and her team have helped transform the former dairy farm, conducting leading research in the Northeast on oilseed crops, perennial grasses, hops, small grains and other crops suitable for small-scale and value-added farming.

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Feedstock: Sunflowers, certified organic

Fuel: Biodiesel

Co-products: High-protein sunflower meal as feed ingredient

Energy Output: Power (for farm machinery)

Services: Oilseed Grower, Oil milling, Fuel Processing, Feed Supply

Owner: Nick and Taylor Meyer

Location: Hardwick, Vermont

The Meyer family has owned and operated their dairy on a 327-acre farm in Hardwick, Vermont since 1978.  In 2003, when the younger Meyer boys took over the farm where they grew up, they transitioned to organic production. Today, Nick and Taylor produce some of the highest quality milk in the state of Vermont, winning numerous awards and gaining notoriety for their sustainable and innovative approach.

That approach has included efforts to reduce overhead costs by making the farm as self-sufficient as possible.  A Bergy Wind Turbine was erected in 2007 to provide some of the farm’s electricity and Andrew began making biodiesel from waste vegetable oil in 2008.  All the tractors on the farm run on B50 (50% biodiesel & 50% petrodiesel) for the summer and the furnace runs on B15 for the winter months.

“I want to produce everything the farm needs, without buying out (off the farm)” Nick Meyer explains. North Hardwick Dairy (NHD) uses 4,000 gallons of diesel each year (2,000 gallons of diesel for off- road equipment and 2,000 gallons in their furnace).

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As an alternative to biodiesel, Green Mountain Spark (GMS) with the support of the University of Vermont (UVM) Chemistry Department is optimizing a chemical conversion process for the decarboxylation of vegetable oils to generate a new green diesel fuel. The chemical structure of the hydrocarbon fuel products formed from the decarboxylation process is very similar to compounds present in conventional petrodiesel, allowing easy adoption of this fuel (green diesel) into existing infrastructure. Compared to biodiesel, this fuel will have improved fuel storage and transportation properties as well as superior cold weather characteristics.

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