| Earlier today I wrote about 17 new 2-year appointments to a federal Dairy Industry Advisory Committee. I was happy that my friend, dairy farmer Jim Goodman, was among the appointees. It turns out that another one of the appointees is someone I'm familiar with. Bob Wills of Cedar Grove Cheese is also joining the committee. There are two important things to know about Cedar Grove in my opinion. One is that they provide "domestic fair trade" cheese (available for purchase at the link). Second, they clean their waste water in an INCREDIBLE and very eco-friendly way, using a contraption they call "the Living Machine."
I realize that Jim and Bob might be just token appointees to this committee to appease sustainable ag and family farm advocates, but I am very, very glad that their voices will be heard on this committee. Also, given the crisis that dairy is in right now, if you eat cheese and you want to do something to help, I urge you to check out Cedar Grove's cheese. |
About the Cheese:
Here's some text about the cheese from the Family Farm Defenders website. I have to say, this is incredible. $30 per 100 lbs of milk (hundredweight or 100# in dairy jargon) is amazing. Average milk prices sunk as low as $11.30/100# in 2009 with an overall average of $12.79/100#. At those prices, a farmer loses money with every gallon of milk he or she sells. (Of course, your actual price depends on your region as well as where you sell your milk. Milk is divided into 4 classes and the price differs for each. You get more money if you sell your milk for the fluid market than for dry milk.) Plus, workers at Cedar Grove get health insurance, all of the cows that produce the milk are allowed to graze on pasture, and the cheese is vegetarian. Awesome!!
Parity Pricing
- There are 34 farm families involved in the project each receiving a parity price (cost of production plus a fair profit) - $30/100# for rBGH-free milk and $35/100# for grassfed/organic milk - well above conventional milk prices. This means that for every pound of Family Farmer cheese sold, $3.00 - $3.50 goes directly to the farmer for their hard work.
Consumer Sovereignty
- All the milk processed at Cedar Grove Cheese is certified rBGH-free or organic, comes only from Wisconsin, and is clearly labeled as such. Consumers can know with confidence that the family farmer milk behind the cheese is fresh, local, and healthy.
Workers Rights
- Cedar Grove Cheese is a respected 100 year old family-run business, increasingly rare in this era of corporate consolidation. Cheese makers receive a living wage (ranging from $7.00 - $14.00 per hour, depending upon experience and seniority), as well as healthcare, dental, and other benefits.
Humane Farming
- Dairy cows who produce the milk are all given routine pasture access, not injected with synthetic bovine growth hormone (rBGH) or forcefed Mad Cow materials (bovine plasma, poultry manure, plate waste, tallow/lard, bone meal), and as a result enjoy longer healthier lives than cows on factory farms. Cedar Grove also uses only kosher-approved vegetable-derived enzymes for its cheeses.
The Living Machine:
If you aren't already in love with Cedar Grove, check this out! (And if you live anywhere near Wisconsin, you can visit for a tour sometime.)
Living Machine:
One of the biggest waste products coming out of a cheese factory is water, which is often contaminated with soaps and other chemicals. Even benign substances can be too concentrated to be put directly back into the watershed, which is what overloaded septic systems often do. To solve this problem in an environmentally sound and beautiful way, Cedar Grove Cheese built its "Living Machine" greenhouse, to naturally clean the wastewater before it goes back to the earth.
The Living Machine
The Living Machine is designed to be a working ecosystem. It uses natural microbes and a collection of hydroponic plants. Washwater is biologically processed back into clean water that is discharged into Honey Creek.
The Cedar Grove Cheese washwater comes from cleaning milk trucks, tanks and cheese making equipment. This includes the pasteurizer, cheese vats and cream separator. This water contains soaps and chlorinated, acidic and caustic cleaners, and some cheese particles, milk and whey.
The washwater is collected and mixed in an underground 6,000-gallon equalization tank outside the factory. The Living Machine handles an average of 7,000 gallons of washwater per day.
It takes 3 to 4 days for water to travel through this system. Each tank extends four feet below gravel level, and holds approximately 2,600 gallons. Tanks are connected by 4 inch pipes a foot beneath the gravel. Water flows through the plant by gravity.
The water first flows through closed aerobic tanks, where bacteria and other tiny organisms begin to break down the residues and particles. The next tanks add wetland plants, whose roots trail in the water and provide a new ecosystem for more diverse microbial populations. The plants also use the nutrients in the water to grow. After this process, the solids are allowed to settle. Much of this residue is used to fertilize fields. The remaining clear water is run through filters several more times before flowing into nearby Honey Creek.
The Living Machine uses a natural process in washwater treatment. It is able to remove 99% of the biological oxygen demand, 98% of the suspended solids, 93% of total nitrogen and 57% of phosphorus. |
