Straus Family Creamery up in West Marin County is doing something interesting with its cow manure. The poop is being used as a way to power the farm and the feeding truck for the cows.
In 2004, Albert Straus created a system that liquefies cow poop in a holding pond. The contraption then captures the methane and uses it as fuel.
“It will be the future and it will be a way to be more sustainable and environmentally friendly."
Straus says the truck feeds the cows, the cows poop, and the poop is then used to power the truck, a process he calls "closing the loop."
While many environmentalists argue that dairy farms are bad for the environment, Straus says:
“It’s not ‘either/or.’ It’s, ‘How can we pull all the pieces together to really make a viable community farming system?'”