Lystek’s Southgate Organic Materials Recovery Centre Celebrates Ten-Year Anniversary in Dundalk, Ontario

Jun 30, 2023

-Lystek International’s (Lystek) flagship resource recovery operation, the Southgate Organic Material Recovery Centre (OMRC), celebrated their ten-year operations anniversary on June 21, 2023. This milestone was celebrated with many municipal and agricultural customers, local politicians, community and industry partners, team members, and Lystek’s ownership team – The Tomlinson Group of Companies – in attendance on site.

“Truly, what an honor and remarkable achievement it is to be standing here celebrating the tenth anniversary of this amazing facility. I still remember, vividly, the first days we began work constructing this facility. My sincere appreciation and thanks to everyone who has been a part of the now global Lystek success story. It has taken a huge amount of effort and passion from innovative, sustainably minded people. Thank you sincerely for believing in Lystek, its technology, and its people. We look forward to many more years delivering sustainable solutions to Ontario agriculture.” – Michael Beswick, Executive Vice President, Lystek International

“When we looked at Lystek nearly 15 years ago, it was a resource recovery technology that made sense, and it still makes sense today, but our achievements really come down to the team that we have. The individuals that are working here every day, they believe in the technology, they believe that it is going to make a difference, and we’re behind them 100% because of that. I cannot thank them enough for the efforts that they have put in and for what they bring to the table. The team is what makes Lystek great, it’s what makes the technology great, and it’s what makes a highly valued, sustainable product for everybody to use!” – Ron Tomlinson, CEO, Tomlinson Group of Companies

“Marking 10 years of innovative and sustainable solutions in Southgate is most deserving of recognition. I am proud and excited to learn more about this Canadian developed technology that is operating in Bruce-Grey-Owen-Sound.” – Alex Ruff, MSC, CD, Federal Member of Parliament, Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound

“Thank you all. It’s clean, the floors are clean, everything is clean, and that gives you a high degree of confidence. It’s really, really impressive and congratulations to you all for ten years of operations. Sincere congratulations to the whole team for all you’re doing with such an important facility in the community.” – Rick Byers, Ontario Provincial Member of Parliament, Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound

The Southgate OMRC, located in Dundalk, Ontario, in the Township of Southgate, began operations in 2013 and has serviced over 30 utilities and private generators over the last decade. These customers have included some of Southern Ontario’s largest communities such as the City of Toronto, Halton Region, City of Hamilton, Region of Waterloo, City of Guelph as well as many other small to medium sized neighboring communities such as the towns of Orangeville, Shelburne, Arthur, and Durham among others.

“The City of Toronto retained Lystek in 2012 to receive, process and beneficially use increasing volumes of biosolids and, by 2014, helped the City eliminate its reliance on landfilling of biosolids. The City and Lystek have twice renewed this agreement since then and Lystek continues to be relied upon as a key technology. Over the past decade, the City has developed a number of beneficial use outlets for its biosolids and Lystek’s Southgate OMRC is today the largest processer of City biosolids.” Frank Quarisa, MBA, P.Eng., Director Wastewater Treatment, Toronto Water

The Southgate OMRC directly employs 13 people, including an Operations Manager, Operations and Maintenance Supervisors, Office Administrator, Compliance and Quality Control Technician, Truck Driver, and Facility Operators. The facility has had a significant economic impact locally with over $17 million spent locally since 2013.

“Congratulations to Lystek for their participation in our community. They have been an outstanding corporate citizen in our community, and we are really fortunate to have them here. Thank you very much and congratulations on ten years of operations in the Township of Southgate!” – Brian Milne, Grey County Warden and Township of Southgate Mayor.

The Southgate OMRC is approaching another major milestone this spring as they near 1,000,000 cubic meters LysteGro fertilizer produced, sold, and applied to local agricultural customers. In 2022 alone, 150,000 m³ or nearly 40 million US gallons of LysteGro fertilizer was purchased by local farmers and applied to over 10,000 acres of farmland. With unprecedented commodity prices and exponentially rising mineral fertilizer prices, the OMRC’s 2023 fertilizer supply has already sold out for the year. LysteGro hauling and application services are contracted locally to Highland Custom Farming and Saugeen Agri Services which directly employs an additional 10-15 individuals, depending on the time of year.

“Our LysteGro customers are faithful and big believers not only in the product but also in what we do here in sustainability. We all know how great the LysteGro product is but the other great product we provide is professional application services. The LysteGro program would not be where it is without the expertise of the Highland Custom Farming and Saugeen Agri Service teams. We look forward to another active season working with innovative farmers in the region who use LysteGro as a renewable nutrient resource and means to enhance overall soil health.” – Simon Meulendyk, Operations Manager, Lystek International

"It's wild it's been 10 years already. We thought we were advanced when we started this program with Lystek 10 years ago but have grown to operate three advanced liquid injection applicators, including our newest grassland injector. We've continued to innovate to move more fertilizer and maximize the use of the product for our agricultural customers. Here's to many more years innovating with Lystek!" – Lloyd Brubacher, LysteGro Program Manager, Highland Custom Farming

"Congratulations to Lystek International on your 10-year anniversary of processing biosolids! It's great that you have been able to divert thousands of tonnes of biosolids away from landfills and turn them into usable fertilizer for farmland. LysteGro is a useful and innovative solution for sustainable farming, and it's exciting to see companies taking proactive steps towards environmental sustainability. Here's to many more years of collaboration and progress in this field!” – Harvey Martin, Owner and President, Saugeen Agri Services

About Lystek

Lystek International, a division of the Tomlinson Group of Companies, is North America's leading provider of Thermal Hydrolysis solutions for the sustainable management of biosolids and organics, servicing over 60 public and private customers. Lystek THP ^® converts biosolids and non-hazardous organic residuals into a high-solids liquid, multi-use product for full cycle resource recovery. These products and processes include the LysteMize ^® process for optimizing anaerobic digestion and biogas production; LysteCarb ^®, an alternative carbon source for BNR systems; and, LysteGro ^®, a nutrient-rich biosolids fertilizer. LysteGro is a high solids (13-16% total solids), Class A quality liquid biosolids fertilizer that is easily stored, transported, and applied using conventional liquid handling equipment and is regulated as a fertilizer product in Canada and the state of California. Lystek offers turnkey solutions including technology supply, design-build and installation services, regional processing solutions, and comprehensive LysteGro product management.

Source : Lystek

Video: The 15-Year Bet Behind Every New Variety!

Canada is trying to decide how much agricultural research capacity it can afford to lose. Brian Rossnagel believes the better question is whether the country can afford to rebuild it.

The longtime barley and oat breeder makes the case with a simple fact about his profession: the consequences of today’s decisions may not become visible for 10 or 15 years.

“Pick the right parents. That’s the biggest thing,” Rossnagel says. “If you pick the wrong parents, you’re not going to get anywhere—and you don’t know that until 10 years, 15 years later.”

That warning carries particular weight as Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada moves to reduce spending and streamline parts of its science operations. The department’s 2026–27 plan anticipates the loss of approximately 665 positions by 2028–29 and says some research will be reduced where capacity exists in academia or industry. AAFC says the changes will make its science operations more cost-effective over the long term.

For Canada’s seed industry, Rossnagel’s career illustrates what is at stake.

This fall, the retired University of Saskatchewan breeder will be inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame. During his 35-year career at the Crop Development Centre, he helped develop more than 100 barley and oat varieties, including CDC Austenson—one of Western Canada’s most widely grown feed barleys. His induction recognizes not only those varieties, but the collaboration and research system that made them possible.

Rossnagel is quick to emphasize that none of it was the work of one person.

“The first thing I thought about was all the other people who contributed to whatever success I and my program had over the years,” he says. “We know that it’s not an individual who does this. It’s a group—a team.”

That team extends well beyond the breeder whose name appears beside a variety. It includes technicians, pathologists, quality specialists, statisticians, regional testing sites, seed growers and industry partners. It also includes the breeders who came before and those who will carry the germplasm forward.

CDC Fraser barley, for example, moved through three breeding careers. Its parents came from Brian Harvey’s program. Rossnagel advanced the material after Harvey retired, and Aaron Beattie later guided it through registration and release.

That kind of handoff is normal in plant breeding. The person who makes the original cross may never see the resulting variety reach farmers.

It also explains why lost research capacity cannot simply be switched back on when budgets improve.

“If you shut it off, it’s very, very difficult—and particularly costly—to start it up again,” Rossnagel says. “If you have to start from scratch, it’s going to be at least 10 years before anybody notices whether you’re getting anything done or not.”

The concern is not simply how many experimental lines Canada can process. Modern equipment, statistical tools and genetic technologies allow today’s breeding programs to evaluate tens of thousands of lines—far more than Rossnagel could handle when he entered the field in the early 1970s.

But efficiency and automation do not generate every idea.

“If you pare back down, and instead of having six or seven individual scientists concentrating on wheat breeding, you go down and say three people could handle all this, well, that’s half the ideas gone,” he says. “Particularly if you happen to lose the three people who had the really neat and innovative ideas, boy, that’s a problem.”

It is a timely distinction for Canadian agriculture. Consolidating programs may preserve the volume of material moving through a system, at least initially. It may not preserve the diversity of thinking, regional knowledge or willingness to pursue unconventional crosses.

That regional knowledge matters because Canadian agriculture is not one uniform production environment. A variety suited to southern Alberta may face different disease, moisture and maturity pressures than one grown in Manitoba, Ontario or Atlantic Canada.

“Agriculture is applied biology,” Rossnagel says. “Biology, all around the Earth, moves from the poles to the equator. It does not move from Newfoundland to B.C. like politics do.”