Byline: Benzinga StaffMANHEIM, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Kreider Farms, one of Pennsylvania’s largest dairy farms, announces the groundbreaking of a multi-million dollar livestock waste treatment system as part of a joint venture with Bion Environmental Technologies, Inc.
Located at Kreider’s Farm in Manheim, Pa., the Cleantech facility is the first of its kind in the state and is designed to treat and recycle manure from the farm’s 2,000 dairy cows in an eco-friendly manner. Bion’s patented technology provides a solution to the pollution associated with livestock operations, eliminating most of theenvironmental impacts of animal waste, including excess nutrients, ammonia, phosphorus, and greenhouse gases.
“There are numerous ideas on how we should reduce environmental emissions, but few are cost-effective. Bion’s system is the exception -- it pulls out twice as many emissions as the cost of the nutrient credits,” said Ron Kreider, president and CEO, and the family’s third-generation leader of Kreider Farms.
Honored guests at the November 10th groundbreaking ceremony included Pennsylvania State Senator Mike Brubaker, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Russell Reading, and Pennsylvania DEPDeputy Secretary John Hines. All praised the project as a major breakthrough toward the future of sustainable agriculture and environmental stewardship. The facility is expected to be in operation by March 2011. For more information on the project, please visit: www.bionpa.com.
Cleantech is approved by the Pennsylvania DEP to generate approximately 140 nutrient credits per milk cow’s waste treated. These credits will be sold by Bion via PA DEP’s Nutrient Crediting Trading website. The nutrient trading approach improves water quality using a market system to produce nutrient reductions at lower costs. It is a voluntary program in which credits can be generated from a non-point source discharger, such as Kreider Farms, and sold to a point source discharger, such as municipal waste treatment plants. The trading approachaids reducing nutrient loading into Pennsylvania’s waterways and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay.
Winner of the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association’s 2008 “Family Farm Environmental Excellence Award,” Kreider Farms is one of Pennsylvania’s largest dairyfarms, supplying high-quality, safe, eggs, milk, drinks and premium batch-churned ice cream. Please visit www.kreiderfarms.com.
Kreider Farms
Laura Koster, 610-254-7432
