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COMPOST FACILITYThe Port contracted with GRS Erection, Inc. from Woodburn, Oregon to supply and erect a 160,000 square foot roof structure over half of the Hangar A concrete slab to be used as a Compost Facility at the Industrial Park. The Port received funding to dry fiber and pack it into retail bails and bags. At full volume, the Compost Facility will produce 40,000 yards per year of finished compost.
The Port then leased the facility to Compost, Inc., a business entity comprised of six local dairy farmers and Pro-Gro, a firm specializing in the production of potting soil, compost, and soil amendments. Compost, Inc. receives manure and produces a uniform, high quality compost for landscaping, nursery, vineyard, and garden application.
The dairy industry is a major agricultural business in the area served by the Port. The dairy farmer members of Compost, Inc. operate dairies that produce, in the aggregate, approximately 2,000 cubic yards of manure per week.
The Port wishes to improve and increase the infrastructure of its Industrial Park and holds title to the Compost Facility and the land on which it is built and leases the facility to Compost, Inc.
As a result and further benefit of the Compost Facility, new jobs are being created; and manure that is currently being land-applied is being removed from the environment, reducing the amount of bacteria and nitrogen entering Tillamook Bay and its watershed.
The Port of Tillamook Bay recently completed a "Compost, Fiber and Liquid Fertilizer Product Development and Marketing Plan," funded in part with State Lottery Funds administered by the Oregon Economic & Community Development Department. The Plan is for dairy cow manure brought to the Composting Facility and Bio-Gas Digester Facility. The estimated production from the facilities is 25,000 cubic yards of digester fiber, 30,000 cubic yards of manure compost and 14,million gallons of digested liquid fertilizer per year from the current facilities.
The Port hired Ron Alexander Associates to complete a variety of related tasks to assist in product and market development. Market research was completed within the Portland regional lawn/garden and the certified organic farming industries, in order to further evaluate regional product markets, and to help focus future product and market development efforts. The research was expanded to include garden centers in the Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles areas.
The market research identified excellent existing markets for similar organically-based products, as well as interest for the newly conceived product developed during the project. The market research also illustrated that potential product end users, especially garden centers in the Portland area, felt strongly that product sales could be enhanced by using the Tillamook name, becoming OMRI listed, and providing fertilizer (nutrient) guarantees. |
Federal, state and local regulations require that dairy operators remove manure from their properties to prevent violation of environmental regulations. The manure must be composted prior to being used as a soil amendment, and the sale of composted manure has the potential to generate revenue for all parties.