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Threemile Canyon Farms is a dependable year-round supplier
of high-quality compost. |
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Recycling is the key to Threemile Canyon Farms' success. By combining our potato farming with a large dairy, we create a balanced, closed-loop system that emphasizes sustainable practices.
Our recycling story is simple: We use the leftovers - peels and culls - from the off-site processing of our potato and onion crops as feed for our dairy cows. Then we use the manure the dairy herd produces to make fertilizer and compost to enrich and improve our fields. Along the way, we accomplish even more green goals:
- By using manure as a natural fertilizer, we have significantly reduced our use of chemical fertilizers on our conventional crops. We've also increased our certified organic acreage every year, making us one of the region's largest growers of organic vegetables and other crops.
- We make extensive use of dairy compost on fields to improve soil properties, resulting in healthier plants and lessening the need for herbicides and pesticides.
- We annually recycle 50,000 tons of yard debris from the City of Spokane and paper sludge from North Pacific Paper Co. By providing these partnerships, we help regional governments and corporations achieve recycling goals, and save valuable landfill space.
- We recycle or reuse all of our agricultural water, except that used as drinking water for animals.
- We are working to extract methane gas from manure to generate green power or fuel.
- We worked with the Oregon Department of Agriculture and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to create a Class III pollution permit that lays out exacting standards for our farm that exceed any previously existing ones. Our dairy meets a zero-discharge requirement, which means that no dairy waste enters streams or groundwater sources. We meet and exceed the standards state agencies place on farming, composting and dairy operations.
Our composting operation is located adjacent to our dairies in the center of our 93,000-acre farm. It is designed to minimize odors, noise, vectors, dust and litter. In fact, our compost operation is one of the most dramatic examples of the benefit that comes from marrying environmental values with sound business practices. It employs 25 full-time workers, represents a $1.5 million capital investment and produces 640,000 yards of finished compost annually.
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Windrows are turned frequently to ensure compost quality. |
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- Our facilities for recycling manure include a clay-lined area with screen separators, settling cells, processing pits and a lagoon to sort materials from the dairy flush sumps. Liquids are collected and pumped back into the dairy's waste handling system. The composting, curing and final processing is continually monitored to protect ground and surface water quality.
- We collect detailed records on all materials that enter and leave the composting facility. Green feedstock includes livestock manure, used straw bedding from the dairies, wood waste, mint slugs and yard debris. Each windrow is thoroughly documented from start to finish, including date of construction, ingredients, moisture content, odor observations, temperature readings, removal date and destination.
- We exceed EPA Section 503 standards for compost production to ensure the destruction of weed seed and pathogens. We keep our windrows intact for a minimum of 100 days, maintain moisture levels at between 25 percent and 65 percent and temperatures at 132 degrees or higher. We turn our windrows every four to five days.
- An independent laboratory analyzes samples of our feedstock and compost to ensure the consistency of our finished product. We provide laboratory analysis, upon request, to wholesale customers. All of our compost products carry the "Seal of Testing Assurance" from the U.S. Composting Council.
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Compost site manager Del McGill |
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Compost site manager Del McGill is a modern-day Rumpelstiltskin with a twist: Instead of producing gold from straw, his team produces it from wood chips, yard debris and tons and tons of cow manure. Our farm's compost operation plays a key role in conserving irrigation water and boosting crop production. It also provides another high-value product for the farm to sell. McGill, who hails from Jefferson, Ore., recognized the growing role of the recycling industry while working as a congressional staffer. "We understand the opportunity here at the farm," he says, "and have learned and developed the processes to make recycling work."
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