Case Studies: State Line Farm
John Williamson and Steve Plummer
State Line Farm
Shaftsbury, Vermont
John Williamson is in the process of selling the last of his dairy herd and runs a 110 acre operation with thirty cows, a significant sugaring operation, sorghum molasses, bees and honey, lumber and logs. He comes from a long line of dairy farmers and is one of many Vermont farmers who have diversified their operations to accommodate for the diminishing returns of small dairy farms. To him, it just made sense that growing a fuel crop would fit right in with what State Line Farm is doing.
John and his partners, Stephen Leblanc and Steve Plummer, have formed perhaps the most innovative of the farm operations in the state, focusing on developing the potential for biodiesel to meet on-farm fuel needs.
Stephen Leblanc started growing rapeseed (Canola) for biodiesel in 2004 just over the border in Glens Falls, NY. He teamed up with Steve Plummer and John at State Line Farm to plant 3 acres of rapeseed and five acres of mustard in spring 2005. Their motivation is not hard to understand in light of some of the dynamics playing out in the marketplace and at the gas pump these days. John has a farm operation to run and in addition to the environmental benefits of using biodiesel, the partners are motivated to "have a secure source of fuel. You know we can't go back to horse and buggy days at the volume we do."
In summer 2005, they built a biodiesel processor in the barn and began making biodiesel from waste vegetable oil (WVO) that they collected from local restaurants. They have been making the biodiesel in sixty gallon batches to figure out the process and by September, had made nine hundred gallons. They are running three John Deere tractors and one Kubota on B100 produced at a cost to them of about $0.75/gallon.
Although State Line Farm is not certified organic (yet), they have been growing without chemical fertilizers or herbicides, using a "GMO free" seed from the University of Idaho. "It was easy and inexpensive to plant" says John. He reports "good yields" in two consecutive years. Using a 55-year-old Combine to harvest, John is confident they've "proved that oil seed can be grown here in Vermont without much trouble."
State Line Farm has also applied to the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms for a license to distill alcohol and build their own still. They are making ethanol from sorghum they grew and have begun experimenting making lye (potassium hydroxide) from wood ash. (These are the catalysts needed to make biodiesel from vegetable oil).
Steve Plummer summed it up when he said, "I can envision a multi-access barn, with the lights powered by a wind generator, where you have an oilseed crusher, storage, and a (ethanol) still, all 'under one roof' (with proper ventilation of course) producing biodiesel that goes to run the tractors, farm equipment, vehicles and heating systems. Farmers could come and see what's going on and learn from a working demonstration just how it can be done."
Since the summer, John and his partners have purchased a used combine and have raised the money, by partnering with neighboring farms, to purchase their first seed press. They will use that to extract oil from the three tons of seed harvested from the field. This should yield 300-400 gallons of biodiesel.
They planted ten acres of winter canola in September and soon will experiment with sunflowers for food and oil. In 2006 they plan to continue with canola and mustard while improving their production capability.