BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – The University of Vermont’s Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships is providing $1.7 million to Vermont organizations tackling rural issues, including the state’s struggling dairy industry.
Burlington Bio is Chris Foley’s second home. The UVM mechanical engineering student is in the startup’s lab every day working to convert dairy production waste into something edible.
“Being able to apply those engineering principles to work that will improve the lives around us in the rural community is really important,” Foley said.
He’s one of several UVM students working on Whey Forward, the brainchild of several local scientists and techies, including late Burlington Bio co-founder Cassidy Rae Petit, who died in a plane crash in January. The project takes the liquid byproduct left over from cheese and milk production that is typically spread on fields and turn it into a nutritious food product. “We’re just trying to recapture that, circular food system,” said Burlington Bio’s Rachael Floreani. She says they source dairy waste from Cabot Creamery and then transform it into something useful.
“This is the valorization process. The technical aspect of it. Here we have wastewater we collected directly from Cabot. We have a proprietary powder that we’ve developed and we mix those together,” Floreani explained.
In just seconds, it separates leftover dairy nutrients which can then be converted into a powder. Floreani hopes to eventually help dairy producers market the powder to create or supplement foods like baby formula. “What we’re going to do is open up another commodity and other market stream for them by taking that waste and creating a food product,” she said.
UVM believes the project could have widespread effects like diverting dairy waste from waterways and soils, and if expanded, it could bring more tech jobs to Vermont.
It could also help dairy producers capitalize on and diversify their products. Cabot currently spends nearly $2 million a year transporting and spreading dairy waste from their Cabot facility alone. The company’s Jed Davis says they’re eager to see whether Burlington Bio can help find a better solution. “It behooves all of us to see how we can benefit from working with that talent,” he said.
Burlington Bio is touring and hoping to partner with more dairy farmers and producers in the coming weeks to expand their research.
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