Barstow’s Longview Farm in Hadley, Massachusetts is a seventh-generation family farm, founded in the early 1800s. The farm is a member of the Cabot Creamery/Agri-Mark Cooperative. To sustain the farm for future generations, the Barstow family pursued an opportunity to house one of the first anaerobic digesters in New England.

The Vanguard Renewables Farm Powered anaerobic digester partnership with Barstow’s Longview Farm began in 2013. With the expansion of the anaerobic digester project in 2016, it is one of the largest and most modern anaerobic digestion systems in New England.

The farm receives nearly 24,000 tons of food waste annually from food and beverage processors, supermarkets, institutions, businesses, and food service operations such as Cabot Creamery/Agri-Mark Cooperative, Geissler’s Supermarkets, HP Hood, and Garelick. The food waste is combined with more than 9000 tons of manure a year from the farm in a 600,000-gallon digestion tank. Manure and food waste are mixed and microorganisms convert sugars, fats, and other compounds into biogas annually producing more than 5,100 MWh of renewable energy and 30,000 tons of low-carbon fertilizer. The facility offsets nearly 3,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually. This is equivalent to taking 650 cars off the road for one year.

Barstow’s Longview Farm receives energy to power the farm and hot water to heat farm buildings and family homes. The farm also benefits by retaining the fertile, low carbon digestate fertilizer remaining from the process, reducing the need for chemical fertilizers and increasing crop yields.