Making the most out of manure

May 13, 2021

A B.C. company is turning livestock manure into fertilizer

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

A Salmon Arm, B.C. company is repurposing livestock manure into useable, quality fertilizer products.

Valid Manufacturing, which “designs, engineers and manufactures innovative and reliable solutions for a wide range of industries,” according to its website, developed a way to remove nutrients from livestock manure.

“We are able, with basically a one-trick system, to pull out about 60 per cent of the phosphorous from dairy manure, almost 40 per cent of the nitrates and about one third of the potassium,” Chad Shipmaker, CEO of Valid Manufacturing, told Farms.com. “We (mechanically) separate the liquid from the solid and the solid has about half of the phosphorous.”

These on-farm units could also be used on other livestock operations using a slurry manure system.

Nutrient recovery unit
Valid Manufacturing photo.

The B.C. government awarded Valid a $320,000 grant to help with manufacturing.

Valid is in the process of marketing the new fertilizer to different industries

The company is working with Lucent BioSciences, who received a $245,000 grant from the provincial government for this purpose.

The new fertilizer product could be attractive to multiple industries, Shipmaker said.

“It’s very light and we’re down to a moisture content of about 52 per cent, so it’s not an offensive material,” he said. “It’s like a compost product.”

Valid has two systems up and running on farms in the province. One in Abbotsford and one in Grindrod.

Early feedback from farmers who have used the new fertilizer product has been positive, said Grant Meikle, a Valid representative.

“The Lucent group has done many test trials already on different plants like tomatoes,” he said. “The growth pattern seems to be very much enhanced by the use of this product. Everybody is pretty excited about its value.”

Parties outside of B.C. have contacted Valid about acquiring one of the nutrient recovery units.

This includes an American dairy farmer, Shipmaker said.

“We’ve heard from some leading dairy farmers in Manitoba, we were in touch with someone in Nova Scotia and a large dairy in Wisconsin,” he said.

Video: Season 7, Episode 1: Managing Risk and Seeing Opportunities in U.S. Pork Production

Today’s episode features three guests discussing the similarities and differences between pork production in the United States and Brazil, along with strategies for managing risk in today’s industry while recognizing and acting on opportunities. First, Dr. Anne Caroline de Lara, executive manager of live pig production at Seara Alimentos, a JBS company in Brazil, is joined by Dr. Matthew Turner, head of operations for JBS Live Pork. Together, they discuss how labor, climate and ventilation challenges vary between Brazil and the United States, while underscoring their shared commitment to raising healthy pigs. They also point to lessons producers in both countries can take from one another’s systems and on-farm experiences. Then, Brady Reicks, risk manager at Reicks View Farms, shares his perspective on risk management, drawing from his background in markets and his transition into farming. He discusses how protecting margins varies by operation and offers practical approaches producers can use to make marketing and business decisions with greater confidence rather than hesitation.

Both conversations were recorded at recent industry events focused on swine livability, including the International Conference on Pig Livability and Iowa Swine Day.