Once Innovations' AgriShift LED Poultry Light

With multiple potential relationships developing, The Minnesota Project and Once Innovations are excited to continue signing up poultry growers for this LED pilot project. By agreeing to participate in the pilot project, producers are allowed the opportunity to obtain a sizeable cost share for installing Once Innovations’ LED poultry lamps. In exchange for this cost share, each of the producers agrees to allow The Minnesota Project to collect data necessary for a report outlining the performance – in both durability and energy use – of the LED lamps. Once the initial installation takes place, The Minnesota Project will work with the producers to monitor the performance of the lamps and will then produce a report outlining the impacts of the pilot project.

As mentioned in an earlier post, this project was developed as a proposal for the Minnesota Department of Commerce’s Division of Energy Resources, which runs a Conservation Applied Research and Development Fund. This fund is utilized to develop projects and ideas that can help Minnesota meet its stated energy efficiency goals of reducing energy sales 1.5% every year solely through energy efficiency programs.

Stay tuned for more updates on The Minnesota Project’s LED Lamp Pilot Project!

Though the weather this year is allowing us to ease into winter, you may still be thinking about your own energy usage at home and how you can be more efficient. Ken Paulman recently touched on this topic in Midwest Energy News, pointing to the incentives available from many local utilities for undertaking a home energy audit.  Check with your local utility to see what they might offer.

In the meantime, to give you ideas for where to start in your improvements (along with a few laughs), here is a fun video series by Energy Impact Illinois on energy efficiency.

Boua Phan Lor completes a demonstration

On a brisk fall night in the midst of the upcoming Hmong New Years’ celebrations, local farmers gathered at the Association for the Advancement of Hmong Women in Minnesota’s (AAHWM) Maplewood office to gain marketing skills for selling their products to local vendors and at farmers’ markets. The group consisted of farmers who sell to co-ops, have stalls at farmers’ markets, and a market manager came to hear Theresa Heiland, The Minnesota Project’s Local Foods Coordinator, speak on solutions to the issues they face selling their products.

While the produce the farmers raise is nutrient rich, some of the obstacles Hmong farmers have selling their products results in their labor being a cash poor endeavor. Some my not realize that succeeding as a local farmer requires an immensely dynamic skill set. Not only do farmers have to possess the extensive knowledge, wisdom and strength to plant, maintain and harvest a variety of different crops at the right times, but they also have to understand how to sell their harvest to earn a living. In fact, marketing can be the hardest part of farming. In a few situations the crops might sell themselves, but in farmers’ markets with numerous vendors selling the same, sometimes unfamiliar products to Minnesotans, these farmers have to stand out as salesmen and women. This is no easy task for those who have limited English skills and sales experience.

In addition to the language barriers, Heiland knows that not all Hmong farmers think of farming as a business so they may not know what the customer is looking for. This is especially important at the vendor packed farmers’ markets. Aside from arranging their produce in an attractive and eye-catching way, Heiland suggested that farmers not only market their products, but market themselves too. Farmers were shown that they can stand out from other vendors by personalizing the customers’ shopping experiences by creating attractive, informative signs, wearing name tags and posting their own personal stories highlighting their backgrounds and where they harvest their crops.

The farmers take great pride in the fact that they sell healthy products to those who buy from them, but many customers may not know the nutritional value or how to prepare the products they sell. Without a populations’ understanding of what a product is or how it can be used can dramatically limit sales opportunities. Heiland suggested farmers could educate their customers by showcasing a weekly “vegetable to know” with additional information, sampling, and recipes for the featured product. To aid in customer education, The Minnesota Project teamed up with The Minnesota Department of Agriculture to provide farmers with vegetable cards they can hand to the customers that explain some of the Hmong produce with a recipe to prepare it with.

Farmers contributed some of their own ideas to attract customers, such as having conversations with customers, giving a customer a small sample of an unfamiliar vegetable to take home and try, and maintaining cleanliness.

The next training will focus on business development where the farmers will be able to design their own business cards. The farmers also expressed interest in future trainings with topics such as sustainable practices, soil health, organic growing, talking points with customers, and how to find more markets for the upcoming year.

Among the exhibitors you also would have spotted The Minnesota Project. We were excited to participate in the expo again this year as a sponsor and to share information on farm energy efficiency.

After waking at a farmerly hour on Tuesday, the 29th, I picked up communications intern Valerie Steffl to carpool and we drove through the early morning darkness to St. Cloud, Minnesota’s third-largest population center and home to this year’s Midwest Dairy Expo in the town’s civic center. Once there, we set up our table with an eye-catching display, fact sheets and reports on various farm energy efficiency topics (including our new Energy Efficient Dairies fact sheet), and milk chocolate – for enticement.

It wasn’t long before we were talking with dairy farmers, fellow exhibitors, and ag science students. Jake Fischer manned the booth on Wednesday and continued the conversation with expo attendees.

Featured at The Minnesota Project’s table was a drawing for a free farm energy audit, or the consolation prize of one of two block heater timers. A number of people entered. The entry form for the drawing doubled as a survey of dairy farmers to see what energy efficiency improvements they may have made to their operations. The survey is a way to help us know how best The Minnesota Project can work with farmers and utilities to forge connections and let people know about available resources. It was encouraging to find that most people we talked with were knowledgeable about many efficiency measures and enthusiastic about finding other ways to save energy and money.

Although the number of survey responses we received does not comprise a statistically significant sample size, the answers farmers gave, as well as the conversations we had, offer a preliminary look at energy efficiency on Minnesota’s dairy farms.

Chart 2: Herd Size and Energy Efficiency Upgrades

Here’s what we learned from the surveys so far. Of the 18 dairy farmers who completed a survey, a majority were from Central Minnesota (see the chart above), appropriately the location of a majority of the state’s dairy farms too. Though our sample size was small, there nonetheless seemed to be some correlation between herd size and the number of upgrades undertaken (See Chart 2), which may speak to a lack of capital and resources available for smaller operations to utilize in pursuing more efficiency.

Still, most had made some energy efficiency improvements, especially with upgrading to milk plate-coolers/water pre-heaters, refrigeration heat recovery, and efficient lighting. Few had installed variable-speed drives or scroll compressors, though (See Chart 3).

Chart 3: Percentage of dairy survey respondents who have made various energy efficiency upgrades

It was interesting to graph the data afterward and visualize it as indicative of which efficiency ideas and technologies had permeated dairy practice and which had not yet, for whatever reason (See Chart 4).

Chart 4; Moving from inside to outside, each circle within the chart corresponds to the categories of upgrades in Chart 3

Also, none of the farmers surveyed, nor any of the farmers with whom we spoke, had ever had an energy audit done – even though a good many were interested. Several farmers talked about the difficulty they’d had in finding a qualified auditor, especially for some of the federal rebate programs. Likewise, several energy auditors commented on the challenges they had faced so far in trying to become certified for providing farm energy audits. This speaks to the strong need that Minnesota has for farm-specific energy auditors. We’re pleased that the Farm Energy Auditor Training Program we’ve started this year will help address these needs.

In the months ahead, we will continue with our outreach to dairy farmers and local utilities to highlight the options for energy efficiency on farms. As our Farm Energy Auditor Training proceeds, we will be looking into the best ways to pair the program graduates with farmers interested in energy assessments, as well as how best to help farmers utilize the funding resources that are available to help them ultimately save energy and money. In the meantime, we also hope to expand our pool of survey responses. If you are a Minnesota dairy farmer, please help us by filling out this quick online survey.

Beyond the conversations we had and what we learned from the surveys, the highlight, at least for me, was watching the video on Enchanted Dairy, Minnesota’s 2011 Producer of the Year award winner. It was great to hear the Miller family’s story and see how passionate they are about their work. Congratulations to them.

Watch the video on Enchanted Dairy for yourself on YouTube >>

The webcast featured an introduction to the Farm Energy Auditor Training by Jake Fischer and an overview of what the next several months of classes and site visits would entail.

A screenshot from the first class session gives an idea of what students see

From there, session instructors Jennifer Brinker and Adam Laurent, both from GDS Associates, took over with their presentation, covering the drivers of energy audits on farms, components of a farm energy audit, data collection, efficiency recommendations, and report components. Next they segued into the first of two parts on conducting energy audits on dairy operations, focusing on milk harvesting machinery and refrigeration.

The session ended with questions and comments, some of which were carried over into the LinkedIn group created especially for the class as a place to post discussion and homework assignments.

Despite a few technical difficulties (which were expected in this first-ever training session), the initial class was a success. The online format allowed students spread across the state to participate, and the program is well on its way to helping produce the first crop (pun intended) of certified farm energy auditors. Once finished, they will be able to assist farmers in energy efficiency efforts as well as meet energy audit requirements for certain federal funding programs, such as the USDA’s Rural Development and Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Funding for the Farm Energy Auditor Training Program was made possible by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy and the Minnesota Department of Commerce through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). Although this initial program run is full, we are taking names on a waiting list for the next. Contact Jake Fischer at 651.789.3330 or jfischer@mnproject.org if you are interested.

With the first class under our belt, the program will be skipping a week in honor of Thanksgiving. Class will resume on November 30 with the second part of the dairy presentation and a discussion on beef operations.

Have a happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

The fact sheet offers some key facts about energy use on a dairy farm (for example, did you know the average dairy uses between 800 and 1,200 kilowatt-hours of electricity per cow, annually?), as well as opportunities for saving energy and money through both routine maintenance and technology upgrades. Also included are bullet points on common utility rebates, along with links to further information for those who want to delve deeper.

Open a PDF of the fact sheet

It is our hope that this fact sheet will be an educational tool that electric cooperatives can provide to their customers, in turn supporting utilities’ own energy efficiency efforts. For dairy farmers, we hope it will provide an overview of many energy efficiency options and serve as a jumping-off point for pursuing ways to make dairy operations less energy intensive and more profitable.

The Otto Bremer Foundation’s mission is to assist people in achieving full economic, civic and social participation in and for the betterment of their communities. Similarly, The Minnesota Project champions the sustainable production and equitable distribution of energy and food in communities across Minnesota. By controlling energy costs, farmers can reinvest resources in their families and operations. Ultimately, we believe these efforts will help ensure healthy and vibrant communities into the future.

Take a look at the fact sheet. Pass it along to your utility and any dairy farmers you might know. In the comments let us know if you have other tips for improving the energy efficiency of dairies, or if you have ideas for future Farm Energy Efficiency fact sheets and publications. If you’re a dairy farmer yourself, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us to help you research possible efficiency upgrades and take advantage of the rebates that many utilities offer.

In the meantime, watch for us at the Midwest Dairy Expo on November 29 and 30 in St. Cloud. We’ll have a booth in the exhibit space and be giving away a free farm energy audit! We’re looking forward to meeting folks and connecting them with tools and information for saving energy and money.

Heidi Coe, Fruits of the City Coordinator, is grateful for the amount and quality of the fruit harvested this year for the food shelves but remarks that this is only one aspect of the program.

“Fruits of the City is not just about the amount of fruit delivered to the food shelves, it’s how to connect with the community, ” Coe said. “The program is about creating awareness of food access issues and being a part of the solution.”

Coe remembers a man from one of the first food shelf drop offs of the year who displayed such gratitude and excitement knowing she was donating apples that day.

“Seeing the emotions that he displayed made me want to make sure he and other people can eat healthy and what they want,” Coe continued. “An apple shouldn’t be a treat, it should be a part of peoples’ daily diet.”

Ann Strong, a chiropractor with a keen interest in nutrition and consistent Fruits of the City volunteer, got involved because she wanted to do her part to ensure healthy foods are going to the food shelves. Strong explained that sicknesses such as cancer and diabetes can be prevented through the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe.

“Conventional foods are so depleted that many people are not getting the trace minerals and vitamins they need and we are becoming a sicker society,” Strong said. “Those who rely on food shelves aren’t able to be fully functioning members of our society with the prepackaged foods widely available there.”

Jared Walhowe, a 2011 neighborhood coordinator, began working for Fruits of the City and The Minnesota Project because he thought it was a great way to help his community through a program that is a leader in food justice and local food initiatives.

“The best part of being a coordinator is simply working for a program that works,” Walhowe said.

“You see this in the food shelves that have gone from having limited access to fresh foods to being saturated with apples after our gleanings.” Walhowe further explained, “You also see this out harvesting fruit with volunteers that are eager to do something meaningful and fun that builds community while you enjoy the beautiful fall weather with others that are happy to be involved.”

Dana Van Der Heide began volunteering when Fruits of the City caught her eye because it seemed to be an easy way to support public awareness and accessibility to nutrition. She continued to participate in seven gleanings because she enjoyed the atmosphere of the program and it gave her an opportunity to be outside.

“There’s only so much TV I can watch before I get bored, but there seems to be no end to the number of apples, pears, etc. that I can pick,” Van Der Heide said.

Without the generous support from SuperValu and General Mills, Fruits of the City’s gleaners, neighborhood coordinators and tree owners would not be able to come together to work and learn with each other in this partnership that looks to engage and connect more people to food justice initiatives in the coming years.

“Through this I’ve gained an enhanced understanding of my community and the opportunities within it,” Walhowe said. “I’ve realized new possibilities for bringing about change through acknowledging the strengths and resources we have such as surpluses of food and volunteers willing to help and it is clear that their efforts are impactful.”

If you’d like to ensure the future of Fruits of the City’s community initiatives that work to expand the access of fresh produce for all, consider making a donation today for Give to the Max Day !

Photos also by Valerie Steffl

With funds from the Office of Energy Security’s Conservation Applied Research and Development (CARD) Grant Program, the LED lighting systems specifically designed for harsh farming conditions will be installed in poultry barns across the state. These systems will be monitored for actual energy use and performance through one year to provide an example of the energy savings potential and dependability of LED technology for both farmers and the utility industry.

This project is aimed to assist farmers and rural electric cooperatives to meet their Conservation Improvement Program (CIP) goals and the standards set forth through The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, and its energy efficiency resource standard. Minnesota’s large turkey industry is specifically targeted in this study as the Act requires alternative options to the incandescent and florescent lights currently used in their facilities. The study will also examine the potential for production gains associated with implementing this specifically designed lighting technology. With the results, The Minnesota Project hopes to exhibit the potential for LED implementation of farms in Minnesota and inform future energy efficiency decision-making throughout the state.

If you’d like to be part of our initiatives in providing more sustainable and equitable tomorrows for farmers support The Minnesota Project on Give to the Max Day on Nov. 16!

In accordance with the Otto Bremer Foundation’s mission of assisting people to achieve full economic, civic and social participation for the betterment of their communities, The Minnesota Project will work to increase awareness and encourage farm improvements that lead to lower energy costs and higher profits. In collaboration with Clean Energy Ambassadors, of Billings, Montana, The Minnesota Project will implement strong farm oriented energy efficiency programs; focusing on education, action, and evaluation plans.

The Otto Bremer Foundation funds and The Minnesota Project’s efforts allow farms and cooperatives to better utilize their resources and effectively expand with the growing demands placed on farmers today. By controlling energy costs, farmers can reinvest resources in their families and operations. These efforts will help ensure healthy and vibrant communities in the future.

If you’d like to be part of our initiatives in providing more sustainable and equitable tomorrows for dairy farmers support The Minnesota Project on Give to the Max Day on Nov. 16!

Photo credit: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1282413

Big thank yous to Applewood Hills for inviting us and to Sysco Asian Foods employees for all your time and hard work!

Please remember to show your support for The Minnesota Project on Give to the Max Day Nov. 16!