In July, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for a $7 million biodigester at Wisconsin's largest dairy farm, Rosendale Dairy, which has more than 8,000 cows. The digester, scheduled to be in operation by the end of the year, is being built in partnership with the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh; the UW – Oshkosh Foundation will own the biodigester.

The facility will dramatically reduce UW Oshkosh’s original 2025 target date for carbon neutrality on the campus, as well as providing the institution’s environmental science, microbiology and other students an off-campus laboratory.

State of Wisconsin and town of Rosendale officials joined the UW Oshkosh Foundation, the UW Oshkosh College of Letters and Science, Rosendale Dairy owner Milk Source, BIOFerm Energy Systems and that company’s parent, Viessmann Group of Allendorf, Germany, at the July 9 groundbreaking.

The new biodigester project follows the UW Oshkosh Foundation’s and Viessmann’s previous collaborations, including launch of the first dry-fermentation (food-and-plant-waste-based) anaerobic biodigester in the western hemisphere on the UW Oshkosh campus in 2011 and startup of the first, small-scale compact (livestock waste) biodigester at a family farm northwest of Oshkosh in 2012. PD

—Compiled from various sources