Source : Foster Brothers Farm - Innovation Center For US Dairy

“We’ve been practicing integration, trying to close the loop on our farm becoming as efficient as possible in the way we do things and use fuel… we’re just beginning to focus and discover what we can do.” - Bob Foster

Practicing sustainability through:

• Aerobic digester
• Composting

Philosophy of sustainability

Foster Brothers Farm in Vermont is a fifth-generation dairy that’s operated under a sustainability philosophy for years. For Bob Foster, this means trying to “close the loop” on the farm to be as efficient as possible. The farm has had an aerobic digester since 1982, producing enough electricity to power the dairy and sell excess into the local power grid.  Foster Brothers also developed a composting operation which produces high-quality product that can be used instead of commercial fertilizers– and that operation has been running for 15 years. Today, the farm is looking at converting excess nutrients from that composting operation into growing algae and producing either oil or hydrogen.

Bob Foster believes dairy can do a lot to provide a more sustainable food system, and that the industry’s history of good stewardship and citizenship gives us a unique opportunity to do that.