Farm-Scape is sponsored by Manitoba Pork Council and Sask Pork Play Audio Farm-Scape is a Wonderworks Canada production and is distributed courtesy of Manitoba Pork Council and Sask Pork.

Farm-Scape, Episode 1290

Saskatoon based Clear-Green Environmental says a new swine manure processing facility under construction near Cudworth, Saskatchewan promises several environmental and economic benefits.

The 1.5 million dollar facility is being built by Clear-Green Environmental in partnership with the Cudworth Pork Investors Group and Sask Power adjacent to a hog operation near Cudworth as a full scale demonstration project.

The facility will use biodigestors to break hog manure into biogas, which will be sold to Sask Power, and into liquid nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

Clear-Green President and CEO Ben Voss says the plant offers the farm several advantages.

"The way this whole plant and deal has been structured is that Clear-Green is owning and operating this facility.

In this first phase we're investing 1.5 million into the energy production side. The hog operation is contracting us to engage all their manure management which ends up costing them exactly what it costs them today to do their manure management.

The whole idea is to be cost neutral to the hog operation but there are several economic benefits that are a little bit more difficult to measure such as, we're providing a fixed natural gas price to them.

Instead of them having to buy natural gas from a utility, they're buying the heat from us which we offer at a fixed price so that they're not exposed to increases in prices.

They also have significant benefits in terms of manure management, odor benefits.

We're not charging them for all of those benefits so this ends up being a really attractive opportunity for the hog operation".

Voss says Clear-Green's revenue streams will include the manure management contract with the farm, the energy sales contract with Sask Power, the sale of greenhouse gas credits and, down the road, fertilizer sales.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.