Gale Gordon decided to install an anaerobic digester when he built Deer Ridge Dairy six years ago, and he doesn't regret that decision.

"I was looking back at here some time ago at the advantages we were looking at and they all have really come true," says Gordon.

The digester breaks down manure with anaerobic bacteria, and from the end product, electricity is generated, cow-bedding and a nutrient-rich liquid fertilizer are produced, water for the dairy is heated, and there's significant bacteria, fly, and odor reduction.

But even with all of its perks, only 18 digesters are operating on farms across Wisconsin.

However, that number will be rising quite a bit in the next few years for some key reasons.

More and more homes are being built near farms, and since digesters offer drastic odor reduction and the killing of harmful bacteria in the manure, they help create a safer, more pleasant environment for the whole neighborhood.

"I think that with a digester, this is--has eliminated a lot of those things in terms of odor and other things that neighbors would normally be concerned with," says Gordon.

Farmers nowadays are also increasingly interested in generating renewable energy, and since they can also make money from the sale of electricity, there's even more of an incentive to install a digester.

Not only are there new reasons for farmers to be interested in them, it's actually easier and better to own a digester now than it would have been in the past.

"Part of the problem with our industry is that there've been a lot of failures in digesters in the past in other technologies," says Melissa Van Ornum, Marketing Manager for GHD, Incorporated, a company that makes anaerobic digesters.

Older digesters also required more maintenance...and then there's the issue of cost, which still exists today.

According to Wisconsin Focus On Energy, for a typical dairy with 1,000 cows, it costs $1 million to install an anaerobic digester.

The sale of electricity generated by the digesters can help repay some of this cost, but in the past, electric utilities wouldn't pay farmers enough to make a digester affordable.

In some states, that's even true to this day; thankfully, in Wisconsin, farmers can get a decent price for their electricity.

Through government initiatives in favor of green energy, digesters are becoming a more viable option for farmers across the nation.

Federal and state governments are making digesters more affordable through grants and tax incentives.

There have also been improvements in digester technology through the years, making it less risky for a farmer to make such a large investment.

GHD, Incorporated has installed 29 digesters since 2001, all of which are still in operation…and they require little maintenance.

"If you talk to most of our farmers, I think they would tell you they spend maybe a half hour a day on their digesters so it still allows them to do their first love, which is dairying," says Van Ornum.

It’s a claim confirmed by Gordon, who owns the first digester installed by GHD.

So with better technology and several new reasons for farmers to use them, we'll likely be seeing anaerobic digesters on more farms across America’s Dairyland in the future!

Click on the link below this article to learn about some of the grants available to farmers who would like to install an anaerobic digester.