The Government of Canada is making smart investments to boost the local economy, create jobs and new markets for farmers and vegetable processors. Dave Van Kesteren, Member of Parliament for Chatham-Kent-Essex, announced a federal repayable contribution of up to $1.6 million to help Seacliff Energy Inc. construct a new facility to transform waste into clean energy and fertilizer.
“The Government of Canada is delivering tangible results to farmers and food processors by helping them lower operational costs and develop new revenue opportunities,” said Mr. Van Kesteren, on behalf of Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz.
“Local farmers, greenhouse producers and vegetable processors will now have a better way of disposing of waste and a less expensive, richer source of fertilizer from the facility.”
This investment will help Seacliff Energy Inc. build an anaerobic digestion facility to transform vegetable waste from local farms and greenhouses into electricity that can be sold to the Ontario power grid, into heat that can be sold to greenhouses, and into organic matter that can be sold as natural fertilizer.
The project is expected to create ten jobs during the construction stage as well as three full-time and one part-time permanent jobs and generate $2 million in annual company revenue by 2010. The facility is expected to open in the fall of 2009.
“Fuel costs have killed us in the last few years and we’re looking forward to a less expensive, more consistent and greener source of heat and energy,” said Dennis Dick, Seacliff partner and owner of the adjacent greenhouse. “Everywhere you look there are benefits. We get organic, nutrient-rich fertilizer from the digester and the waste from our greenhouse will be fed back into the digester.”
For more information on the Agri-Opportunities program please visit www.agr.gc.ca/agri-opportunities.
