November 2001

Dairy Development International Opens World Class Agri-research Facility

The dairy industry faces both challenge and change. With the opening this October of its new $7 million 30-acre dairy complex and agri-research facility in Cortland County, Dairy Development International, LLC, is poised to lead the dairy industry, researchers and allied companies around the world.

New York State Commissioner of Agriculture and Markets Nathan Rudgers presided over the recent grand opening ceremonies, along with Senator James Seward and New York State USDA/Rural Development Director Patrick Brennan. Also attending was DeLaval President and CEO Hans Ekdahl from Sweden, along with a number of other DeLaval executives. The ceremony also featured tours of the dairy complex which was constructed by local contractors under the lead of Homer-based Finger Lakes Construction.

Located in the heart of Cortland County's prime agricultural corridor, DDI is a joint venture between DeLaval and FARME Institute, Inc. DeLaval operates 44 market companies in 110 countries around the world and provides the dairy industry with milking equipment and systems. FARME Institute, formed locally as an S-corporation by Joanne Siciliano-Jones and Larry Jones in 1995, was founded to bring affordable research and technical services to individuals and companies of every size. With nearly 200 current clients, FARME Institute serves individual dairies and nutritionists who are looking for a better way to determine the nutritional value of their forages as well as multinational firms who are evaluating forage genetics or new products.

Both Joanne and Larry have extensive backgrounds in the dairy industry. As President of FARME, Joanne was formerly the manager of basic research for a large agricultural company where she conducted research in ruminant nutrition. Larry, who serves as Vice President, was formerly an assistant professor of animal science at Cornell University.

Early in its history FARME Institute benefited from funding received through a USDA Rural Development Business Grant that provided equipment for its new office complex, and the FARME Institute office building was a Cortland County IDA PILOT (payment-in-lieu-of-taxes) project. DDI is a separate corporation, operated by a general manager, farm manager and herd manager under the direction of a board of directors. DDI has the capacity to house and milk 850 cows at the complex which includes two free-stall barns, a special needs barn, a milking parlor, an anaerobic digester, feed storage grain bins. Heifers, calves and dry cows are located at off-site facilities. The cows are milked in a Double 20, Blue Diamond EnDurance parlor which allows one person to milk forty cows simultaneously. Milk is trucked daily to the New York City area for the fluid milk market. In addition to the main complex, DDI has access to approximately 1400 acres, with the raising and harvesting of forages fed at the farm managed by DDI and handled by independent contractors.

DDI is run as a zero discharge site which means that nothing from the complex enters the ground. One of the technological innovations in place at the facility is an anaerobic digester, through which gasses are separated from solids which are then sold as fertilizer. The bio-gas is used to generate electricity using four micro-turbines, producing enough electricity to support the entire farm. The installation of the micro-turbines was assisted through a NYSERDA grant and NYSEG is another active partner in the project. During off-peak times, surplus electricity is sold back to the utility.

The choice of Cortland for such a cutting-edge global operation was strategic. Cortland is at the heart of some of New York State's most prime agricultural land, with some of the best soils anywhere. Moreover, it is at the center of a developing agribusiness/argitechnology corridor -- halfway between the world's leading agricultural research institution, Cornell University, and Syracuse, home to well known agri-companies like Dairylea and Agway.

As General Manager of DDI, Larry Jones is optimistic about what this means for DDI and Cortland. "We provide cutting edge technology evaluation services to the dairy industry and help our clients test new products in a commercial setting. We firmly believe what we do here and now will favorably impact the entire dairy industry for years to come."