Sunflowers & Canola to Fuel: Dairy becomes Biodiesel Production Facility

Lunchtime Virtual Tour Webinar from Noon-1:00pm with Roger Rainvill of Borderview Farm, Alburgh, Vermont. This is one of a series of Sustainable Farm Energy Virtual Tour webinars for Spring 2014 by the Cornell Small Farms Program and NE SARE

Interested in making biodiesel on your farm or in cooperation with other farmers?  Roger Rainville will take us on a virtual tour of his former dairy-turned-energy farm in Alburgh, Vermont.  In 2008, when diesel prices rose from $4 to $5 per gallon, Roger began planting sunflowers and canola on a portion of his 214 acres and installing biodiesel processing equipment. He harvests the oilseed with a combine, and uses a seed cleaner and grain dryer to prepare the seed for storage in a 60-ton grain bin prior to processing.  He’ll show us how he presses the seed to get two products: oil for biodiesel and pelletized meal for feed or to burn in a pellet stove.  He then sends the oil through a BioPro 190 automated biodiesel processor which can process 100 gallons of oil to fuel per day.  Learn more about his equipment and the seed to fuel process by tuning in to this video. Cosponsored by the Vermont Bioenergy Initiative.

The Sustainable Farm Energy: 2014 Virtual Tours webinar series is sponsored by NE SARE (Northeast Sustainable Ag Research and Education) and the Cornell Small Farms Program.  Please send inquiries tosmallfarmsprogram [at] cornell.edu

. To learn about funding opportunities available from NE SARE, visit www.nesare.org. To learn more about small farm resources and support, visit www.smallfarms.cornell.edu.

Dates: 
Friday, April 18, 2014 - 12:00pm to Saturday, April 19, 2014 - 12:59pm
Address: 
NY
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