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Grants

Applied For:

  • USDA Value Added Producers Grant Phase 1
  • USDA- SBIR (Small Business Innovation and Research) Phase 1
  • IEDC (Indiana Economic Development Commision) match of SBIR phase 1 funds 
  • EQIP-Organic transition funds.  A whole farm transition plan has been written

Received:

  • USDA Value Added Producers Grant Phase 1-Funded business planning activities such as business plans, marketing studies, and a 3rd party feasibility study
  • USDA- SBIR (Small Business Innovation and Research) Phase 1
  • IEDC (Indiana Economic Development) matching grant.  Our great state of Indiana provides matching funds for the SBIR grant we received.  These funds will be used to kickstart our processing, value-added business infrastructure needed to spread the availability of local foods.

USDA- SBIR (Small Business Innovation and Research) Phase 1 Research Objectives

This document was used to cut and paste into the CRIS on-line database and was not directly submitted to the USDA.
OBJECTIVES
Objectives:
There are five primary objectives to this research project.
1. Establish baseline energy requirements, water needs, and waste generation for a small poultry processing facility (up to 500 birds per day).
2. Observe means and methods of other small poultry processing facilities.
3. Select available renewable and alternative energy technologies that fulfill the demands of poultry processing.
4. Evaluate existing local waste streams to identify possible building materials that may be used for the design and construction of a facility.
5. Design a multi-use processing facility that includes alternative building techniques and incorporating alternative and renewable energy technologies within the design (derived from objective #3), while satisfying all local building and health department codes.
APPROACH
To design the facility, the largest energy user of the facility must be assessed; this will be the poultry processing portion of the facility.  After this energy and waste audit is conducted, specific system components may be selected to fit the system requirements.  In addition, observing other small operations will assist in a more complete view of how processors are currently operating.  Once this information is compiled, final systems will be selected and designed into a multi-use facility that may be used for more than poultry processing; highly specialized systems may be effective for large scale production, but small infrastructure requires flexibility.  The following outlines the approach of the research:
1. Development of a pilot modular facility for poultry processing only utilizing baseline equipment.
a. The pilot facility will be modular in nature utilizing a semi-trailer as a structure.
b. The pilot facility will utilize existing processing equipment with non-renewable technologies.
2. Collect energy use, water use, and waste generation of the modular facility.
3. Visit three small poultry processing facilities and record means and methods (that are allowed to be recorded) that are used.
4. Based on collection of data from the modular poultry processing facility, design and select system components that meet or exceed energy use, water use, and waste generation requirements for the poultry process.
5. Evaluate existing local waste streams to identify possible building materials that may be used for the design and construction of a facility.
6. Design a multi-use facility that includes alternative building techniques and incorporating alternative and renewable energy technologies within the design (derived from objective #4), while satisfying all local building and health department codes.
a. Calculate the estimated life-cycle cost for a standardly constructed facility versus this alternatively constructed facility.
i. Include per unit of energy used, i.e. 5 BTU/BIRD
ii. Include per unit of water used, i.e. 5 GALLONS/BIRD
iii. Include per unit of waste developed, i.e. 5 GALLONS/BIRD
NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY
Problem:
Small farms have limited poultry and small ruminant processing facility choices in Indiana; while most facilities serving this function utilize standard construction methods, facilities utilizing alternative and renewable energy systems are nonexistent.
Question:
Can a facility be designed that utilizes alternative energy technologies that result in a net energy savings?
Purpose:
The purpose of this study is to design a multi-use processing facility that utilize alternative and renewable energy technologies and alternative building techniques that will abide by all local building and health codes.
KEYWORDS
Agri-tourism
Alternative building
Alternative energy
Anaerobic digestion
Back yard poultry processing
Commercial kitchen
Educational farm
Family farms
Green building
Local food
Multi-use processing facility
Photovoltaic
Poultry processing
Renewable energy
Ruminant animal
Small farm
Small scale poultry processing
Solar energy
Solar water heater
Sustainable farming
Value added
VAPG

Surveys:

We are in the process of collecting completed surveys for a marketing study being done through the Value-Added Producers Grant.  If you are interested in filling one out and expressing your interest (or disinterest) in sustainable farming, education, and processing  please email me and I will send you a fillable survey.

We will continue to keep you updated on exciting research being done at the farm.