ASO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 23,1988
Ag Industry Complex
(Continued from Pag* Al)
'The time is now” Mellott says.
“With the Chesapeake Bay agree
ment in place, we must begin to
solve our waste problem before
regulation puts us out of business.”
Mellott was bom into a farm
family that.raised a 700-pound
rolling herd average Jersey herd
from one foundation heifer calf
and won the grassland award.
After he graduated from Shippens
burg University, he taught physics,
chemistry and math at Central Ful
ton High School and coached the
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trach team to 23 major tournament
wins. One of his stars was one of
the nation’s fastest miler and
became an all-American with full
scholarship to Penn State Univer
sity. In the late ’7os when fuel
alcohol came to the front as a sub
stitute for the high energy costs,
Mellott started a personal research
study visiting alcohol plants out
west and managed the building and
operation of a plant in southcentral
Pennsylvania. From this practical
experience, Mellott concluded that
an alcohol plant cannot stand
alone.
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The Pennsylvania farmers’
Association came to similar con
clusions from their efforts to deve
lop processing plants for farm
members. Fred Kerr, in PFA’s
marketing division, found that lack
of operating capital and long tur
naround time for cash flow made
profit margins small in processing
plants. “We learned that unlike the
popular concept the middleman
doesn’t make all the profits,” Keer
said. ‘The middleman has the
same type margins as the producer.
We found that processing opera
tors have difficulty standing alone,
too.
Other factors also influenced the
beginning of this proposed inte
grated, economic development
system. PFA found that vehicles
that haul grain from the west and
cottonseed from the south must
usually return empty. Excess man
ure, especially in southeast Pen
nsylvania, could be transported
back on these empty vehicles if it
were in a manageable form.
Mellon found that the incinera
tors for solid waste were consid
ered liabilities rather than sources
of energy. Waste trucked into
landfills created problems of space
and contaminated underground
water sources.
In addition, Mellon found that
agriculture was the major remain
ing large industry in Pennsylvania.
The coal and steel industries are
hurting. And Pennsylvania agri
culture will fade away, too, if plans
are not made for long-term growth,
according to Mellon.
“We want to use the large popu
lation centers in Pennsylvania as a
resource to agriculture,” Mellon
said. “These people provide a lot
of garbage that can form the basis
of energy for the complex and then
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provide close markets for the pro
ducts produced by the agricultural
synergism.” After the glass and
metals are separated at curbside
before pickup, the burnables
would be taken to the complex to
produce steam. This steam would
produce heat and electricity for the
complex. From this power source
the most economical products
could be produced.
These products would be deter
mined by the market (what the
consumer wants) and by the loca
tion of the plant. For example, per
capita consumption of mozzarella
cheese has been increasing. A lot
of heat is needed to produce this
cheese and the whey by-product
often causes problems as a waste
product With energy to bum from
the city’s waste, the complex
would have the resource to make
the cheese and turn the whey into
fuel alcohol.
Other products that could be
turned into alcohol in the complex
would be potatoes and grains. The
byproduct from the production of
alcohol is animal feed-distillers
grain and sweet stillage water that
is 90 percent digeslable. But an
even better market for these high
protein feeds is the small pet food
market. Canned pet food has 65 to
78 percent moisture and could be
readily processed in the proposed
complex. Add a meatpacking plant
to the complex and you could have
meat scraps to mix in with the dis
tillers grains.
Excess heat could warm a
greenhouse and carbon dioxide
could help the plants grow. The
manure from a feedlot could be
used to produce methane. Manure
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The
from neighboring farms could be
piped into the complex. The
methane would provide additional
energy to dry manure to be com
pressed into bales of pellets. The
bales of manure could be trans
ported to the southern cottonfields
or the reclaimed strip mines of
western Pennsylvania. The pellets
could be bagged for use on lawns
and gardens, back where the origi
nal garbage came from.
A fertilizer plant, a cannery, a
commercial fish operation, a mill
to produce cereals ora plant to pro
duce fructose sugar for the soda
industry would all have a likely
place in this integrated complex.
Vegetables and cut flowers could
also be produced and kiln-dried
lumber would keep the furniture
manufacturing business in
Pennsylvania.
Right now a corp group of indi
viduals is acting as the catalyst to
bring together funds for the feasi
bility study. “We need to get
started now,” Mellott said. “We
are being overrun by our own gar
bage. And we have a situation
where regulations may force
things upon agriculture that sould
change the whole economy of
Pennsylvania.”
“Like my former track-star, agri
culture is Pennsylvania’s star eco
nomic player. I want to build on
that star and create an economic
winner based on agriculture .that
reaches out to benefit all segments
of people in Pennsylvania. With
food and products economically
produced close to home, jobs are
created. And new and revitalized
businesses can grow because they
have their roots in this kind of a
complex,” Mellott said.
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