New sustainable poultry bedding strategy at no cost

23-09 | Market trends/analysis | Article

A US company called Poulterra has launched its ‘Manure-as-a-Service’ (MaaS) platform, an innovative contracted approach to providing crop-based bedding to poultry farms at no cost. The High Point, the North Carolina-based company’s concept, uses miscanthus – a perennial grass used today as bedding for poultry, horses and other livestock in the US.

Poulterra describes miscanthus as a highly-efficient, carbon-negative grass that grows well on marginal land. It requires no annual seeding as it’s a perennial, and also no fertilisation given its deep root system and highly-efficient recycling of nutrients when it goes dormant in the autumn. The miscanthus is planted on land owned by poultry farmers or near to poultry farms.

“We also target areas where we can plant along watersheds, as miscanthus is an effective vegetative buffer strip for reducing nutrient run off,” explains Rob Tripp, Poulterra CEO. From the harvested miscanthus, Poulterra shareholder and partner AGgrow Tech makes miscanthus bedding, which Poulterra supplies to poultry farms through long-term contracts.

Savings for poultry farmers

Astonishingly, there is no cost for the bedding in these contracts. The only ‘payment’ is that Poulterra removes the previous year’s litter during an annual cleanout. It’s estimated that about 14 million tonnes of poultry litter is generated every year in the US. This miscanthus-based litter is used by Poulterra to produce renewable natural gas (RNG) and high-quality, low-carbon fertilisers in anaerobic digesters. Biogenic liquid CO₂ is also produced and sold back to poultry integrators for use in processing.

In addition to receiving bedding at no cost, farmers also gain other financial and performance benefits from working with Poulterra. Tripp explains: “Our MaaS model manages moisture in poultry houses better due to its superior absorbency. This, in turn, lowers the amount of pH amendments needed, reduces exhaust fan requirements and reduces heat loss in the winter months, all saving the farmer money. For the integrators, we provide gains in both feed conversion and livability metrics.”

Overall, the Poulterra approach transforms poultry litter, traditionally spread as fertiliser prone to nitrogen volatilisation and runoff, into nutrient-dense, precision-application fertilisers. The use of traditional fertiliser is reduced and greenhouse gas emissions in the poultry sector are cut as well. The aim is “a sustainable, circular economy model for poultry production on an unprecedented scale”.

Miscanthus as poultry bedding

AGgrow Tech describes its miscanthus bedding as a high-quality solution to traditional wood-based bedding. Wood bedding quality is highly variable as different species of wood are used to produce different types of lumber products. Miscanthus bedding allows the industry to take control of the consistency and quality of bedding for every flock. The company notes that as bedding is the one product used in poultry production that the bird is always in contact with, the ability to standardise the type of bedding and cleanout frequency allows integrators to optimise performance across all growers and processing facilities. Better bedding equals better birds.

The miscanthus is planted on land owned by poultry farmers or near to poultry farms, limiting trucking costs.

University testing has shown absorption up to 3 times higher than shavings, a considerably lower average microbiological load and softer material characteristics. Commercial poultry farmers using miscanthus bedding have seen improved performance and lower mortality, which increases their profitability.

Dave Tribbett, a poultry farmer in Maryland, commented: “I was sold on miscanthus bedding after the first flock.” Through its partner AGgrow Tech, Poulterra uses a proven, non-invasive variety of miscanthus. The crop sequesters more carbon per acre per year than a plantation of pine trees and more than 3,500 acres of miscanthus are planted per project.

Sustainability

Poulterra’s digester projects represent some of the largest animal waste to RNG initiatives in the US, says Tripp, each capable of generating over 600,000 million metric BTUs annually. “With strong support from the poultry industry and a robust pipeline of projects being developed, we are ramping up to significantly increase the overall level of industry sustainability while driving down emissions through the production of low-carbon fuel and fertilisers,” states the company.

“RNG from our efforts can provide poultry integrators with a way to reduce tailpipe emissions and lower commercial trucking costs. Our fertilisers can be substituted to replace synthetic nitrogen fertilisers to help poultry and food companies reduce the Scope 3 emissions associated with growing agricultural crops,” the company added.

In addition, selling biogenic CO₂ back to poultry integrators (produced from litter in their barns and then used by them in their slaughter processing), reduces emissions related to making poultry products. It also eliminates the use of CO₂ in poultry processing from fossil fuel sources.

Financing for expansion

Poulterra is the first company to eliminate merchant risk in poultry litter projects by creating long-term, fixed-price feedstock contracts and RNG sales contracts. In addition, Tripp points out that Poulterra’s RNG product will uniquely qualify for the generation of the US Environment Protection Agency’s D3 Renewable Identification Number (RIN) credit under the federal government’s Renewable Fuel Standard Program. Renewable fuel producers generate RINs, market participants trade RINs and obligated parties obtain and then ultimately retire RINs for compliance.

“This supports the financing of a project, something that has been difficult, if not impossible, to obtain in the past with poultry litter projects due to the presence of a wood-based bedding product which lacks the traceability requirements necessary to generate D3 RINs,” says Tripp. “Poultry litter-to-RNG projects that lack the carbon value from RINs are difficult to finance, given the high levels of merchant risk and marginal economics.”

Launch focus

Poulterra’s current focus is the US, but over time the company will look at expansion into Canada and perhaps other countries, too. “Our largest production of miscanthus is in the Eastern Seaboard area of the US,” says Tripp. “We are developing projects in North Carolina and Maryland right now.”

There are currently over 25,000 family poultry farms across the US that produce 10 billion broiler chickens annually. Chicken remains the country’s most-consumed protein. In terms of integrators, so far Poulterra is working closely with Mountaire Farms, the fourth-largest poultry integrator in the US, to transition its growers to MaaS.