Firm Plans Farm Plant for Belmont, Wis., Area

By Nathan Leaf, The Wisconsin State Journal

Dec. 8–A southwestern Wisconsin company is moving forward with a $100 million plan to build a state-of-the-art agriculture campus that would house 20,000 beef cattle, an ethanol plant and a greenhouse, while bringing more than 100 jobs to the area.

Lafayette County Bio-Ag’s chief executive officer Tim Baye said the plant proposed for just south of Belmont, 65 miles southwest of Madison, would be environmentally friendly and efficient, using its own waste to supply power for operations.

“We developed a system that encourages us economically to mitigate detrimental effects to the environment,” Baye said. “If it operates as designed, it will actually be a net energy (producer). … We’ve attempted to get as close to a closed loop system as possible.”

The company has not yet applied for the permits required by the state to build the facilities but has notified Lafayette County in writing of its intent to move forward with the project, Baye said. The company hopes to begin the permitting process next summer. “We would like to be open by the end of 2007,” he said.

The plant would produce beef, bedding and potted plants, ethanol, distillers grain, carbon dioxide, electricity, ammonia products and fertilizer.

Baye said the revenue generated at the facility is expected to be from $80 million to $90 million per year, depending on the price of ethanol.

The plant would be one of the largest employers in the agriculturally dependent county. Baye said Belmont Bio-Ag, which would be a subsidiary company of Lafayette County Bio-Ag, would have from 67 to 75 full-time positions, with most of those “requiring significant education, experience and talent” and paying an average salary more than $40,000 with full benefits.

Another roughly 20 full-time positions would be needed to staff the greenhouse with up to 100 seasonal employees during the spring.

Lafayette Bio-Ag has identified a site south of Belmont in the town of Elk Grove for the 160-acre campus. It would be on land north of Holland Road and west of Highway 126.

Baye said Lafayette Bio-Ag, which is looking to develop similar campuses in other parts of the world, has received investments from companies including EarthTech, Caterpillar, Delta T and Bioscan of DenMark, which he described as “strategic partners.” No money has been raised for the project in Belmont, but the company has hired an investment company to find investors during the next three to four months.

Kim Voigts lives on a dairy farm next to the proposed site and was among several hundred people who attended a community meeting hosted by the company Tuesday night at the Belmont High School gym. She was concerned about how the project would affect the local water supply and about the odor produced by the cattle. But following the meeting, she said many of her concerns have been put to rest.

“I am all for adding jobs to the county and bringing money in,” Voigts said. “There’s no chance we’re going to run out of water. Those fears are totally allayed now. It’s not a concern. They put a lot of time in on this and they’ve done a lot of research.”

The plant is designed to move waste quickly to an anaerobic digester to process it before it begins to decompose and smell. Baye said the sealed digester extracts the nutrients to produce methane, which can then be sold.

“If we have odor that means that the nutrients that we want to use in the digesters is decomposing outside the digester,” he said.

The plant would also feature a solid separator and a water filtration unit that will turn the remaining liquid back into potable water to be used in cleaning the facility and other operations.

The company says that the only wastes from the facility would be flue gases from the combustion system and a minimal dust and odor from the cattle.

Ken Leahy, Belmont village president, said he wasn’t initially convinced the facility was good for the area. “I was a little skeptical,” Leahy said. But he has warmed to the idea as the company has provided information. He said others seem ready to support the project as well, although some concerns remain.

“I think the majority of the audience (at Tuesday’s meeting) was in favor of it,” Leahy said. “I’m more in favor of it than I was two months ago. It’s got a chance.”

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