Jock Charles (Above), who runs Berrybank Farm, north-west of Ballarat, said his pig farm started investing in waste-to-energy technology 30 years ago. 

"That's all been to do with trying to look after the environment and make the place better, more sustainable," he said. 

"We saw the value and were interested in the proposition of making electricity from pig manure.

"It took about two and a half years to build the bio-digester.

"We tried to self-finance part of it. It was expensive. It cost around $2 million back then, which was a fair sum of money."

Mr Charles said the bio-digester reduced the farm's energy output by 90 per cent. 

"We are producing about the same as we use, but during the day when we're running the feed mill and a few other things, we are pulling some power in from the grid, and then in the evening, we export power."

Mr Charles said despite the initial high cost of installation on the farm; the business would not be as profitable now without the bio-digester. 

"It's been really good. A couple of other businesses have come out of the back end of it," he said. 

"You wouldn't be getting a large return just based on the electricity manufacturing, but if you take into account all the other environmental benefits, plus the fact we've been able to produce [fertiliser] that we sell into the garden industry, [it's profitable].

"We are making money, in fact, we probably wouldn’t still be running the business without the bio-digester."

In addition to the financial bonuses, Mr Charles said the piggery, which is home to 20,000 pigs, was also a more pleasant place to work. 

"S70% of odour from piggeries comes out of lagoons or ponds [that are used to store manure], so if you can eliminate the ponds, which we've been able to do, then you're only dealing with 30 % [of the smell]."

"There is 80,000 litres of liquid waste [per day], which is about the equivalent to the waste of about 100,000 humans." 

How it works:

Bio-digestion is the process of creating an energy-rich gas by placing organic materials, such as pig manure, into an airtight container to break down.

"[Manure] goes into a big tank, a primary digester, which is heated to 37 degrees Celsius the same as a human and pig's stomach," Mr Charles said. 

"So, basically what we're doing is taking the unused fraction of feed that the pig hasn't been able to convert into protein or muscle, and we are extracting the energy from that.

"There are literally trillions of little anaerobic bacteria [that break down the manure], and all that activity results in methane gas which can be used to fuel an engine, and that drives a generator."

What is left once this bio-digestion had taken place, Mr Charles said, was a nutrient-rich watery substance, which the business used to make 60 different varieties of fertiliser.  

"We thought we could value-add to the process, and we started playing around, mixing it with different things," he said. 

"Now we make a large number of [fertiliser] products for the Melbourne market and produce about 2 million bags a year."

This environmental push is becoming more common in the industry.

Chief executive of Australian Pork Limited Margo Andrae said 16 per cent of the pork industry was powered by on-farm methane converted into energy.

"We're also seeing additional uptakes through solar energy. We're seeing more of our farms adopt that technology," she said.

"We have a really strong goal of not only reducing our emissions, but we also want to have zero waste — nothing going to landfill off-farm by 2025."

Ms Andrae said the pork industry had been "leading the way for decades" compared to other livestock industries in Australia.

According to research published by the Grattan Institute, the entire agriculture sector is responsible for approximately 15 per cent of Australia's emissions.

Of that, beef, sheep and dairy are the most significant contributors. The primary emissions from pigs are from their manure, but these contribute just 2% of total agricultural emissions.

Incentives for industry:

The pork industry has reduced its emissions by 69 per cent since 1980, Ms Andrae said, and also reduced water usage by about 80%.

"A lot of our largest piggeries are able to adopt the infrastructure and put it on farm, but it's not cheap," she said.

"For our larger farms, some of the returns on investment just make economic sense. They're not only helping the planet but reducing their input costs.

"But for our smaller producers, with under 6,000 or so pigs, we are hoping to work closely with government around what the opportunities are to assist those producers." 

There were few incentive schemes in the 1980s for businesses to invest in renewable energy projects, but eventually, Berrybank Farm did receive financial rewards from the government for its efforts. 

"We did eventually get the renewable energy credits, and that certainly helped a bit, especially since the system is getting older now. It does take a fair bit of maintenance," Mr Charles said. 

"That little bit of money helps, and I think it's important to encourage others to take up this sort of technology as well.

"If you can get a bit of support from the government to make your place more sustainable, that’s great."

Story By | Jane McNaughton