Summary 113 ECOFERM Closed-cycle farm in practice K. Kroes, G. Hemke, S. Huurman, J.van Liere, N. van den Top, Ch. de Visser, J. de Wilt Report no. 16.2.338, Utrecht, The Netherlands, March 2016 Apart from meat, milk, and eggs, livestock farms produce manure, urine, heat, vapour, ammonia, methane and CO2. These substances are not used, or at least not optimally, which represents a loss in economic and ecological terms. That is why, several years ago, Innovation Agro & Nature (the former ‘InnovatieNetwerk’) began to develop ECOFERM, the closed-cycle farm. At ECOFERM, waste products from intensive livestock farming (manure, ammonia, methane, CO2, and heat) are used for the production of algae, duckweed, biogas, electricity, heat, and clean water. Duckweed and algae are plants that grow very quickly, that can be harvested continuously, and that are rich in protein. These characteristics make them ideal for using residual flows from livestock farms that do not have much land (as in the case of pig and veal farms). The first description of the concept was issued in 2011. That year saw the first contacts with pink veal farmer Kroes, from Uddel, who had advanced ideas for creating a closed cycle on his farm. In 2013 the ECOFERM was build and in 2014 and 2015 experience was gained of the various aspects of this circular farm, such as manure treatment, fermentation, cultivating duckweed, and using it as cattle feed. This report describes the results. Chapter 1 shows the various flows in the ECOFERM closed-cycle farm. It involves a farm with 3,600 pink veal calves. A new farmhouse for 2,000 calves was built in 2013 alongside the existing premises, in which urine and solid manure are separated under the slatted floors, Pagina 120
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