New technology, promise for integrated manure management systems

Three major integrated manure management systems successfully turning manure into usable by-products in Western Canada are paving the way for dramatic new potential for waste management in Canada‚s livestock business, says a veteran agricultural consultant and international business operator.

"We have never looked at manure as an opportunity,"Gordon Wells, of Tradex AgriSystems told the 2005 Banff Pork Seminar. "One of the key messages that must be received is that manure has renewed value in today‚s marketplace."

Increasing urban pressure on water and land, and dramatically higher energy costs have created a real challenge for livestock producers, but those same conditions have created a renewed interest in this new technology, says Wells.

The three companies, Bio-Terre Systems Inc. and Home Farms Technologies Inc. based in Manitoba, and Clear-Green Environmental Inc. based in Saskatchewan, have significantly different technology and business models. But all three have a common goal ñ to process potential waste into commercially usable by-products.

Methane and biogas used to produce electrical energy on a commercial scale, solids that can be composted or used as fuel, and thermal energy are typical by-products, says Wells. Each company is developing different approaches to finding commercial solutions.

While there is no clear winner in approach at the moment, says Wells, what is clear is that these three have persevered through incredible odds, lack of political support and economic challenges to lay the groundwork for real progress.

The cost of energy, the increasing public pressure for real solutions to environmental issues, and significantly larger-scale livestock operations and processing facilities put integrated solutions in a new light.

There are certainly issues to be dealt with and business models developed before those units become commonplace, says Wells. For example, setting up an integrated processing unit, with long-term payback requirements obviously requires that the source of manure or fuel stays in business. "Otherwise, you could have a stranded asset."

For those reasons, he believes the most immediate potential is with large processing units, such as slaughterhouses.

"Innovation will drive these opportunities and successful innovation requires a well-developed capital market that allows people to invest in these opportunities," says Wells. "Integrated manure management systems are just now beginning to attract capital, but at least we are moving in the right direction.

"We must deliver this message to our politicians and industry leaders ñ that manure will simply become a bigger problem if we don't make new options such as this a priority."

The Banff Pork Seminar is co-ordinated by the Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Sciences, University of Alberta, in co-operation with Alberta Pork, Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development and other pork industry representatives.