 MESA, Wash. -- Coulee Flats Dairy, in Mesa, Wash., uses leftover human food to feed their dairy cows. “Cattle are the ultimate upcyclers for the byproducts out of the northwest,” said Luke Dynes. Dynes owns Wyatt Enterprises which takes food waste that would otherwise be thrown out and delivers it to farms. “The beef and dairy market alone here, is moving about 5,000 tons a day out of landfills to create milk and meat in the state of Washington,” Dynes said. Coulee Flats owner Case VanderMeulen says they will feed their cows about 100 pounds of feed a day. “Which is over 700,000 pounds of feed a day, which is approximately 11-12 truckloads a day for just the milk cows,” he added. When Coulee Flats Dairy receives food waste from Wyatt Enterprises, they will have a nutritionist come up with the proper rations for the cows. All of the different ingredients are carefully mixed. “Our goal is to feed the cows the same ration day in, day out,” VanderMeulen said. “Cows are a creature of habit so they like it the same way every single day,” he said. “If cows are well taken care then they will do their job well.” The farm’s nutritionist, Judd Higgins, says it takes a team to make sure the cows are healthy. “We work as a team here on the dairy, between the producer, the farmers that grow the food for the cattle and the veterinarian to try to promote longevity and health,” Higgins said. “There are some ingredients that we add, whether it be yeast or probiotics that improve gut motility and rumen health. The total amount of ingredients in a ration from waste would be depending on your farm -- anywhere between 35-65%. And again, those byproducts -- some call them waste ingredients -- we would have to expend money and land resources in order to dispose of these. Where we collect these, bring these onto the farm, and put them into our diets, therefore we completely utilize those ingredients.” Coulee Flats will work in conjunction with their vet, Scott Kieser, to ensure their cows are healthy. “One of the most important components to animal welfare is providing a healthy ration,” Kieser said. “And the amazing thing about a cow is she is the ultimate recycler. Things that are byproducts from creating food for humans we can use those products in a dairy and the cow can benefit from those products and create milk and protein from those products while not having those products end up in the landfill.” Some of the products brought to Coulee Flats are from a dehydrated potato facility. “This facility makes your instant mashed potatoes, that type of stuff. The dairies need consistent feed year round, because cows do better on consistency,” Dynes said. “We are diverting that volume from going directly to a landfill to going back to feed and we’ve made it consistent -- so they are feeding it year round, and that’s a big benefit for everybody.” Story coverage made possible thanks to support from
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EVERSON, Wash. -- When Mariah and Shawn Butenschoen, owners of Breckenridge Blueberries and Probably Shouldn’t Distillery, tossed around the idea of using solar energy, they followed two philosophies that they have adopted in their time as farmers. Over the years, the Butenschoens were told they probably shouldn’t do a lot of things. “We were told we probably shouldn’t open a blueberry farm...and then we were going to go organic and we were told we probably shouldn’t do that, and low and behold we did it,” says Mariah, “When we were messing with the idea of a distillery we were told you probably shouldn’t quit your job and open a distillery, but we did it anyway.” Beating the odds helped them develop the philosophy that although they ‘probably shouldn’t’ do a lot of things, they still can succeed at them anyway. Not only did it give them a motto to follow, it created a unique name for their distillery, which crafts a variety of spirits using their blueberries and other Washington products. The second philosophy is one that has been important to the Butenschoens from the beginning. Their philosophy to be green and protect the environment is something that farmers across the world know to be a valuable foundation for a farm business. When it came to choosing solar, they wondered if they probably shouldn’t, but they did it anyway since solar energy on their farm fit with their philosophy. Working with Ecotech Solar and the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), the dream came true. As Ty Chang with Ecotech Solar puts it, “There’s a natural fit between solar and farmers”. Farmers understand the value of growing their own food and creating renewable energy follows that same path. The Butenschoens, who own a small organic farm, felt that this pathway gave them the opportunity to promote a future for farming through sustainability. “We are already doing our best to keep from polluting our world, by doing this small part we make a difference,” says Mariah. With help from Ecotech Solar and REAP, which provides grants and loans for rural small business and agriculture producers, the couple was able to install a renewable energy system and make energy improvements to their business. The solar energy on their land now covers about one-third of the energy used in total including their shop, farm, and house. In the meantime, Mariah and Shawn aren’t the only ones who enjoy the solar energy improvement. Distillery customers who come in find it eccentric that a small business would have such a different approach. Yet, as Chang points out, farmers have the incentive to do something like this, not only to help the environment, but also for the future and legacy of their farm. “The future of solar electricity on farms just keeps looking brighter,” says Chang. Story coverage made possible thanks to support from
 SKAGIT COUNTY, Wash. -- Skagit farmers are working together to protect the soil. Jason VanderKooy with Harmony Dairy says animal waste, particularly from dairy cows, plays a big role in soil health. “Cow manure is the complete package for nutrients for our fields,” he said. “It has all the nutrients needed to grow grass, grow corn, build the soil -- healthy soil. It’s important to have good feed for your cows.” Chad Kruger, Washington State University’s director of NWREC, says the diversity of the region’s agriculture defines the soil system. “We grow a lot of crops and have a lot of different livestock systems,” he said. “And, the diversity is something that defines our system. And underlying all of it is soil and how we take care of our soil both from kind of a traditional conservation perspective as well as the potential that soils could be a reservoir of a lot of really positive things that we have really yet to fully grasp and understand, much less be able to take advantage of.” VanderKooy says dairy and crop farmers are working together when it comes to soil conservation. “Farmers are seeing the benefits of animal waste on their fields,” he says. “So we have a pretty good system here now, and that's thanks to dairy farmers and crop farmers working together.” John Roozen, a bulb farmer in Skagit County, works with VanderKooy to get manure on his fields. “We farm about 2,200 acres and we rotate with other farmers that can grow any number of crops,” he said. “The importance of that rotation is paramount. Stewardship is about listening to the soil and listening to the crop and trying to interpret what it's telling you.” Kruger says the ecosystem is fragile. “Our producers in our region have realized that when we do something there is an effect and that we've got to be really careful about that in this fragile system that we have here,” he said. “So we're looking for that optimum where we can get the advantages of the manure application for soil health, get the environmental protection, but also keep the dairies viable and in business.” He explains that scientists learn from producers. “And so when we as scientists are working with producers there's this kind of old school mindset that the scientists will figure it out and then transfer it to the producers,” Kruger says. “And I think that's really actually backwards here. I think if you talk with most of the scientists that I work with, the best ideas come from producers.” He says then it is the scientists job to measure the effectiveness of what the farmers have done. “You only get one experiment, right? And so to be able to provide them tools and understanding that helps them do a better job is really rewarding.”
 FERNDALE, Wash. -- A Ferndale farm has gone above and beyond to assist the Bellingham Food Bank for years. Boxx Berry Farms donates acres of their property to the food bank’s gleaning project, allowing the food bank access to fresh produce. “Bellingham Food Bank's agricultural programs really got started about 10 years ago when we inherited a gleaning project,” said Max Morage, special projects coordinator with the Bellingham Food Bank. “What we do with the gleaning project is we harvest food that would otherwise go to waste. So we want those apples. We want those carrots. We want anything that would serve families in Whatcom County.” “Today, we were here to harvest some potatoes that we had that were excess to us,” Mike Boxx, owner of Boxx Berry Farm said. “We have the ability to grow quite a bit of produce.” Boxx approached the food bank years ago with an excess amount of corn. Morage gathered a crew to go harvest the acre of corn. “Mike felt great,” Morage said. “He donated five bins of corn that would get shared all throughout Whatcom County and we were thrilled because we developed a relationship directly with a local farm.” Boxx says farmers are working hard to create a high-quality product, so anytime there is an excess, the food bank is getting that high-quality product. Eliza Andrews, the small potato gleaning coordinator at the Bellingham Food Bank, says that it’s important for the food bank to have access to fresh produce. “The Bellingham Food Bank is providing a service to people who use the food bank and we as the gleaning are providing a service to the farmer when we come to the farm to glean this product,” Andrews said. “If you could think of it in that way as a service, we're here pulling food from your field that you're not going to use and that it can be used somewhere else and that is pretty great. Those are the kind of services that we can provide so we both benefit. I get to go back to the food bank with all this delicious fresh product that was picked hours ago. I mean fresh is one thing, and then hours fresh is pretty cool.” Morage says the Bellingham Food Bank’s relationships with farmers is important to the food bank. “Working directly with farms to me feels a lot like we're connecting pieces of the food system together in a way that otherwise wouldn't happen,” he said. He says farmers don’t want to see their food go to waste. “Farmers who have spent an entire year planting, tending, watering, harvesting, looking for a market -- they don't wanna see food go to waste,” Morage said. “They got into farming because they like food and they like feeding people. Bellingham Food Bank depends on donations that organizations, like farms in our community, make and having a really strong group of those organizations that know each other and know what each other is doing is vital to the work that we do.”
 SUNNYSIDE, Wash. -- J&K Dairy in Sunnyside, Wash. is using worms to help clean and recycle their waste on their farm. They have brought in the Biofiltro system to their farm to help with cleaning their waste and creating clean water. “The Biofiltro beta system takes anaerobic water cleans it up with aerobic treatment and eliminates a bunch of the potential liability associated with it,” said Russ Davis with Organix. “For example, odor, methane, and loose nitrogen. And, it converts all of those things into things the plants can use and reduces those potential contaminants by about 90%.” The system uses worms to naturally filter the water. “So the worms are capable of doing what worms were built to do, which is to clean the ground or in this case, clean the water up,” Davis said. “So that we can produce as much clean water as a farm can use.” “The idea behind the Biofiltro is to clean the water up for the dairy farmer so they are able to utilize their water in a better fashion.” Davis said. “And hopefully create some sort of revenue benefit as well.” Matias Sjogren with Biofiltro says that within 4 hours of the water entering the system, it leaves clean. “So basically, we are transforming a liquid waste, to a high quality water for irrigation,” Sjorgren said. “With this system we are taking out the environmental, greenhouse gases impact that they have right now.” Jason Sheehan with J&K Dairy says it’s common for farmers to try new things for sustainability. “I think the biggest thing is that we want to show that dairyman are innovators and are always trying new things, trying to get better at what they do,” Sheehan said. Davis agreed. “Dairymen, by nature, are environmentalists,” Davis said. “Probably the best recycling machine out there. We like the story that cows can take food that people can’t eat, for example alfalfa and corn stalks -- what we consider waste, and they turn that into something that can be utilized for humans.”
 WHATCOM COUNTY, Wash. -- Constant moisture is important to the health and growth of potatoes. Ebe Farms in Whatcom County has tested out several types of irrigation systems to find the most efficient way to keep their potatoes hydrated while conserving water. Greg Ebe, the manager at Ebe Farms, says his family got started in the potato industry in the 1920s. His grandfather was a German immigrant and started the seed potato program in Whatcom County. “We’re blessed with some of the most primed soils in the country, in Whatcom County, for potato production and also a great climate,” Ebe said. “But, we still have to supplement with irrigation, and that’s just critical to us.” Initially, the potatoes were irrigated with handlines, which, Ebe says, requires a lot of labor. And, they are only about 75-80% efficient.They switched to big guns hose reels and unfortunately those are also not very efficient. Big guns reduced labor, but were only about 66% efficient. “We were not making good use of our water,” Ebe said. “Soil and water is everything to us.” They have started to convert a lot of their fields to a drip irrigation system, which is 95% efficient. Mark Goodman with Ebe Farms says that the new systems help replenish the soil. “We are able to maintain a moisture balance throughout the day, a 24 hour period, which is an ideal irrigation technique for a potato crop, which is extremely moisture sensitive,” Goodman says. The new irrigation system is placed right in the root zone, so there is less evaporation. Ebe says the technology is still evolving, but it is continuing to improve. Ebe Farms currently uses satellite feeds to see how their crops are doing. They can see how hydrated the crops are or if they are stressed in any way. Ebe says the technology allows them to monitor how effective the irrigation systems in place are. They can compare the fields day-to-day to see how weather is also impacting the potatoes. “Water is critical to our operation. There’s a lot of competing uses for water. We need to manage it as a finite, precious resource. Drip irrigation makes the most efficient use of the water, rather than waste the water, it leaves it for other uses, such as the salmon habitat. Farming, in general, is the most compatible land use to creating a healthy habitat for salmon recovery.”
 DEMING, Wash. -- New technology is allowing for the waste created on dairy farms to be turned into clean water. Coldstream Farms sits in the south fork valley in Deming, Wash. The valley is narrow and the Nooksack River winds back and forth through the valley. Galen Smith, owner and operator of Coldstream, says it is important that his operation is conscious of the impact his farm has on the environment. “We do have a lot of sensitive areas, that we want to make sure we are protecting water quality, all of those things that are important to farms,” he said. “We want to make sure we are doing a good job.” Two and a half years ago, Smith was contacted by Regenis, a Ferndale company working to help farms with manure management. Eric Powell with Regenis, says the company searched the world for a technology the company believed in. The system separates the manure into three products -- a solid of concentrated nutrients used for fertilizer, concentrated nutrients in the form of a liquid, and clean water that is the result of a reverse-osmosis filtration system. Coldstream received $930,305 in grant money from the Washington State Conservation Commission for the manure management project. They were one of five recipients to get grant money for the use of innovative technology to reduce potential environmental impacts and costs associated with manure management. Coldstream's commitment to sustainability is also evident in their land use strategy, where they work with the Whatcom Land Trust to ensure that the land that they farm along the banks of the South Fork is sustainable and thriving, including 54 acres that they lease from Land Trust. In 2018, Whatcom Land Trust awarded Coldstream the The Bob Keller Memorial Business Conservation Leadership Award. Coldstream is the first clean system installation in Washington of this kind and its use creates 4.3 million gallons of clean water that can go back into the river each year. The Nooksack River is a main route for several types of salmon. The Whatcom Land Trust and the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association have spent many hours working on the property to better the area for optimal salmon health. “We were green before being green was cool,” Smith. “We are the ultimate recyclers. We take every drop we get from our cows, and now, we return it to water to a fish bearing stream.” Smith also said their farm needs to operate in a sustainable way that is viable to a dairy operation. “We have to protect not just our farm, but the farming community as we move into the future,” he said.
 Mitch Moorlag, Edaleen Dairy General Manager and son-in-law of founders Ed and Aileen Brandsma, says as a multi-generational family farm, Edaleen is committed to sustainability. Through all that growth, sustainability remained one of their core values. That’s why, in 2012, Mitch Moorlag, the Brandsma’s son-in-law and general manager of the dairy, made the decision to install an anaerobic digester on the farm. It was a large investment for the farm, but one that they see as worthwhile. “Being willing to take that risk allows us to be sustainable dairy farmers from one generation to the next,” says Mitch. But how does this technology work, and what are the benefits? The manure produced by the cows flows into a large, sealed tank. In that tank, microbes that thrive in areas without oxygen (“anaerobic”) break down the manure, and in the process release biogas, a combination of methane and other gases. That gas is then used to run a generator producing about 544 kilowatts of energy, or enough power for 250 residential homes. The farm also receives carbon credits for this, since the methane that is combusted before it makes it into the atmosphere, where it would otherwise act as a greenhouse gas 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide. The remaining manure is then separated into solid and liquid components. The solids are filtered and used as a soft, fibrous bedding for the cows. The liquids, which have a high concentration of nutrients, are used as an organic fertilizer for the crops that feed the cows. The result is a system that captures and recycles carbon, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, produces carbon-neutral electricity, and allows the farm to more easily manage nutrient levels on their croplands. Puget Sound Energy customers who are interested in using green power like what Edaleen Dairy produces can find more information about the program here.
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