Signage at the Bullis Savage View Farm in Grand Isle, Vermont serves as a construction sign and an educational description of the development process for passersby and the school children next door.
Following a variety of unexpected events including farm ownership change, permitting delays, noise studies and potential changes in Washington DC that would have impacted grants and incentives, the Bullis Savage View Farm welcomed its first digester components and started construction in late spring 2026. (Agricultural Digesters CEO Jim Muir discussed current challenges with a leading media outlet, Compass Vermont.)
A digester provides new revenue streams so farms no longer need to depend on the fluctuating milk prices to survive.
Bullis Farm with the help of Agricultural Digesters LLC will make green electricity to sell to the Vermont grid, heat for the farm’s new worker building and milking parlor, fluffy bedding solids which replace expensive sawdust, extra solids to sell as compost and 90% odorless liquid fertilizer that will be injected into fields which increases yields and controls potential runoff into Lake Champlain. The farm may also separate the liquid digestate a second time to produce a powerful granular organic fertilizer sold nationally.
The Bullis digester has required weekly video meetings of local engineers (Vermont), the generator supplier (Germany/Connecticut) and biogas technology provider (Austria/South Dakota). This international team was selected by Agricultural Digesters based on many decades of experience and hundreds of farm digesters commissioned worldwide, rather than relying on domestic manufacturers.
Stainless steel panels and other tank components (396,000 gallons) arrived from Texas, placed in the lay down area and inventoried by Agricultural Digesters awaiting construction.
Space being modified for separation of digestate into bedding solids and liquid fertilizer. Reinforced platform to rear. New FAN/Bauer digestate separator on floor. In foreground, base ring materials needed in tank construction.
Review held by NRCS to ensure the project conforms to requirements for its $450,000 EQIP allocation. From left are Agricultural Digesters team member Chantal Beliveau, Sarah Larose and Bob Thompson of NRCS, farmer/owner Dwight Bullis, Jill Marsano and John Forcier of Agricultural Digesters.
Concrete poured awaiting placement of base ring.
Clearing for circular, above ground CSTR (Continually Stirred Tank Reactor) completed. Now back filling with stones, 2.25 feet to ledge. Wood placed for holding concrete. Most farmer owned digesters in Vermont were built with older, in-ground technology. Above ground CSTR systems provide more energy, are easier to maintain and are the choice internationally.