Sustainable Farming

What does it mean to be sustainable? Good question! At Stahlbush, we think it’s important to explain to people what we mean when we use this term to describe our way of farming and producing food. We define sustainable as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (based on “Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development,” United Nations, 1987). We like this definition because it shows the quest for sustainability is a philosophy. Our philosophy of sustainability guides our farming practices and affects the way we use energy and care for soil, water, people and wildlife.

Energy

With this facility, Stahlbush Island Farms is completely energy independent!

Stahlbush Island Farms, a national leader in sustainable agriculture and food production, operates a first-of-its-kind Biogas Plant by producing electricity from fruit and vegetable byproduct. The power plant will provide enough electricity for approximately 1,100 homes, nearly twice what the farm and food processing plant uses in a year. The $10 million dollar project took fourteen months to complete and is operated by Stahlbush Island Farms Inc.

The cutting-edge Biogas plant supports Stahlbush Island Farms’ goal of minimizing its carbon footprint and gaining energy independence through the creation of a renewable, on-farm energy source. A recent innovation in the United States, and most commonly associated with dairy operations, anaerobic digesters have been creating green energy in Europe for decades. This is the first plant in North America, built with state of the art engineering and design techniques for the purpose of creating biogas from fruit and vegetable by-product.