Smithfield Foods Inc., Smithfield, Va., and Anuvia™ Plant Nutrients, Zellwood, Fla., on April 5 announced a new partnership to create sustainable fertilizer from renewable biological materials collected from manure treatment systems at Smithfield’s hog farms. This project is part of Smithfield Renewables, the company’s new platform dedicated to unifying and accelerating its carbon reduction and renewable energy efforts.
The project will reuse organic matter found in hog manure to create a commercial-grade fertilizer that is higher in nutrient concentration than the original organic materials. Because Anuvia’s products contain organic matter, nutrient release is more controlled, resulting in reduced greenhouse gas emissions and a smaller environmental footprint.
Anuvia will utilize remnant solids from Smithfield that accumulate over time at the bottom of the anaerobic lagoons, basins designed and certified to treat and store the manure on hog farms. Anuvia, which specializes in the transformation of organic materials into enhanced efficiency fertilizer products, will manufacture and sell these commercial-grade fertilizer products to farmers nationwide.
“Through Smithfield Renewables, we are aggressively pursuing opportunities to reduce our environmental footprint while creating value,” said Kraig Westerbeek, senior director of Smithfield Renewables. “Along with projects that transform biogas into renewable natural gas, this is another example of how we are tackling this goal on our hog farms.”
Smithfield, a $15 billion global food company, is the world’s largest pork processor and hog producer.
“This is the beginning of a partnership based on a shared vision that will positively impact livestock and crop production,” said Amy Yoder, Anuvia CEO. “Our proprietary manufacturing process which converts organic waste into novel bio-based plant nutrients is both environmentally friendly and sustainable. Our products reduce leaching and put organic matter back in the soil. Our process is a prototype for a circular economy, as we reclaim organic waste, convert, and reuse on cropland.
“This relationship provides a new sustainable way for Smithfield to return its remnant solids back to the land for use on the crops grown to feed the hogs. The impact of this is extremely significant for hog production and the livestock industry. We look forward to helping achieve both Smithfield’s and Anuvia’s environmental goals,” Yoder continued.
Company-owned and contract hog farms in North Carolina will participate in this project. Smithfield will collect and begin the process by de-watering the waste solids before providing the remnants to Anuvia. Once acquired, Anuvia will pick up and transport the material to their processing plant to create the fertilizer.
Anuvia, with an existing plant in Zellwood, Fla., is planning to build a new larger-scale plant to process the Smithfield material. The company said it was not at liberty to disclose the location, as negotiations are still underway. “Once we are ready for production in late 2019 or early 2020, Smithfield will provide us their organic material,” Yoder said in an interview. “In the meantime, we will be working with them on the analyses and the process at our current plant in Zellwood, so that by the time we’re ready with a new facility, we can move forward efficiently and quickly.”
Yoder said the new plant will be handling a minimum of 100,000 wet tons of hog waste a year. “This will translate to approximately 65,000 tons of product produced. We will blend other organic materials with the Smithfield organic materials to produce a minimum of 200,000 tons of fertilizer a year from our new production site. Once we are in production, we anticipate expanding our use of Smithfield organic materials beyond the 100,000 tons.”
Yoder said at this stage, Anuvia plans to dedicate the new facility to SymTRX for the agricultural market. It expects ag demand to consume the entire supply. Yoder noted the circular route of the process – fertilizer to corn, corn to hogs, and hog waste back to fertilizer. She said SymTRX will be marketed to hog producers as well as to the growers from whom Smithfield buys corn.
Going forward, Yoder said the company is looking to expand to other hog-producing regions. She said the company is having conversations with other feedstock providers, but cannot reveal more details at this time. She added that the company is also in discussions with companies outside of North America. “Other countries face the same issues. The U.S. is not alone in these concerns.”
While Anuvia has not revealed the location of the new fertilizer plant to serve Smithfield and it may be a simple coincidence, the Orangeburg County Council in South Carolina has been studying a proposed fertilizer plant by an unidentified company. It was on the Council agenda on April 2, and County Attorney Jerrod Anderson told the Council the company would invest $14.2 million and create 43 jobs over the next five years, according to the Orangeburg Times and Democrat.
The Council gave a second reading to an ordinance that would provide the company, labeled Project Oz, tax incentives to locate in the county. The county would provide a fee-in-lieu of taxes for a 30-year term, as well as special revenue credits. The company is eyeing a site in a joint county industrial park with Dorchester County.
Orangeburg County is situated directly in the middle of South Carolina. No other details about Project Oz were available.