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Sierra Fresh Eco-Farm Fuel Source Development at Cedar Mills EcoFarm
Location: Pioneer, CA *Sierra Nevada Region Central (Amador County) Contact: John Van Diepen, 209-295-2935 or Warren Alford (209) 795-2672 The Sierra Fresh Eco-Farm Fuel Source Development demonstration pilot project is assessing how a chip-fired heat-generating boiler developed in the Netherlands, can be modified to meet both California's strict air quality requirements and to process additional types of biomass locally available. Because the biomass boiler, at the site of an old sawmill at Cedar Mills EcoFarm, powers a four-acre Dutch System greenhouse, Sierra Fresh Organics is able to grow organic tomatoes year-round in the middle of a forest, at a 3000 ft. elevation snow-line. The greenhouse and biomass infrastructure was partially funded with a Rural Cooperative Development Grant from the US Dept. of Agriculture Rural Business Cooperative Service, and a Certified Development Company Loan (504 Loan) from the Small Business Administration. Although it has been operating well, Cedar Mills EcoFarm has ongoing challenges procuring fuel for its biomass boiler. They have used sawmill residue that is hauled from SPI milling facilities as far away as Tuolumne County. Fortunately, the new CHIPS project is in nearby Calaveras County will be able to supply biomass. (See Heat and Energy: Chips) According to project partner Sierra Forest Legacy, this project "will assess availability of local supply from both adjacent forest lands as well as opportunities to utilize green waste from transfer facilities in both Amador and Calaveras Counties that need to be diverted from the solid waste stream. The project will also determine rates of combustion for different types of fuels and determine optimum operating guidelines for the different fuels as well as determine relative air quality impacts from the different fuels. The project will include a testing component to determine the threshold of non-wood biomass that can be effectively utilized (i.e. needles, bark, etc.) to enable the most effective use of forest byproducts. The project will develop a feasibility analysis to determine if it is viable to co-locate a solid waste collection and chipping facility at the Sierra Fresh Eco-Farm site." SFEFFSD is getting "technical assistance to meet on-going air quality permitting issues so that this facility can be used as the Best Available Control Technology (BACT) for future wood-heat biomass facilities in California." "I think the future of farming is based on looking for alternatives," Van Diepen said. "We deal with all these different universes and you're trying to grow an economically viable crop using natural methods and it's a wonderful challenge for farmers and growers." (Quoted by Jenifer Gee in an April 2007 article in the Amador Ledger-Dispatch) For more about:
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