After a growth trial in 2019, a Massachusetts CBD oil producer contracted with dairy farm in 2020 to grow 44 acres of hemp, fertilized with digestate.
Bar-Way Farm, Inc. in Deerfield, Massachusetts is a multigenerational dairy farm founded in 1919 and operated by Steven Melnik and his son, Peter. The farm encompasses 600 acres of cropland. More than 250 cows are milked each day. In 2016, Vanguard Renewables installed a CH Four Biogas 660,000-gallon capacity anaerobic digester to codigest 9,125 tons of manure and 36,500 tons of food waste annually. Vanguard Renewables delivers the food waste as a slurry, which is blended with manure and loaded into the digester. Bar-Way Farm receives a lease payment, along with low-cost energy and free heat and hot water captured from the CHP engine. More >>