Ben & Jerry's

The Green Dream Farm in rural northern Vermont is owned and operated by Chris and Anne Wagner. The 375-head dairy farm supplies the St. Albans Cooperative Creamery, which Ben & Jerry's relies on for milk supply. Ben & Jerry's created the Caring Dairy
Program to support sustainability initiatives on supply farms.  The Green Dream Methane Reduction Project sets out to eliminate the equivalent of nearly 13,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide through a low-tech solution that separates manure solids and composts them into sanitary bedding material for livestock.

Native's distinctive Help Build™ model provides upfront funding for the separator, composter and related system equipment in exchange for the environmental attributes in the form of certified carbon offsets.

Benefits:

• The Green Dream Farm Methane Reduction project is an exemplary case of on-farm sustainability activities intended by the Caring Dairy Program. Ben & Jerry's early seed funding was essential in getting the project launched.
• The project will produce enough cow bedding both for Green Dream Farm and for several neighboring farms, which will be able to reduce their bedding costs by buying from Green Dream Farm.
• The 375 cows on the Green Dream Farm produce 3.4 million gallons of effluent per year. The manure separation process removes 50% of the manure solids and reduces the total waste volume by 20%.
• Through this project, the Green Dream farm is likely to see significant savings each year in the cost of spreading manure on fields.
• Reduced discharge of excess nutrients into soils and waterways
• Added economic stability for a small farm