For generations, cow manure was simply an unavoidable byproduct of running a dairy farm. At Jordan Dairy Farms in Rutland, Massachusetts, however, it became something much more valuable: a source of electricity, heat, fertiliser and even animal bedding. In 2011, the family-run dairy installed what it describes as the first agricultural anaerobic digester in Massachusetts. The system uses microorganisms to break down manure and other organic waste in an oxygen-free environment, producing biogas that can be used to generate electricity.
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