Windfall Bio recently completed a pilot in Petaluma, Calif., with Straus Family Creamery and Correia Family Dairy, one of Straus’ 12 organic dairy farms. The pilot deployed Windfall’s nature-based solution to capture methane using natural microbes known as mems. Mems consume waste methane and transform it into outputs like organic fertilizer, saving dairy farmers money while reducing methane emissions. The pilot establishes a pathway for food retailers and suppliers to reduce Scope 3 emissions (all indirect greenhouse gas emissions that occur in a company’s value chain but are not directly owned or controlled by the company) while realizing an economic return from organic fertilizer production.

Windfall’s bioreactor offers a simple-to-operate design for farmers to install and operate across agricultural sources of methane. Placed next to a manure lagoon at the Correia farm, the mems in the bioreactor consumed biogas continuously for more than a month and converted over 85% of the methane from manure on-site without the need for pre-treatment of the gas or any external sources of energy. The bioreactor consumed raw manure biogas without disruption and was able to remove hydrogen sulfide from the manure gas, potentially reducing odors and improving local air quality.

Explore More Sustainability

“The pilot results mark a key milestone in scaling Windfall’s methane-to-value technology,” says Josh Silverman, cofounder and CEO of Windfall Bio. “By demonstrating the robustness of Windfall’s mems and bioreactor, we have shown that industries like agriculture can operate more efficiently and profitably by reducing their methane footprint. As a technology innovator, we are excited to expand our work with Straus Family Creamery, a leader in deploying nature-based climate solutions, to build a more sustainable farming system.”

“Windfall’s technology supports Straus’ work to improve the economic viability of dairy farming for small-scale family farms while reducing climate impact,” says Joseph Button, VP of sustainability and strategic impact at Straus. “The project results were extremely impressive, and we are evaluating further opportunities to deploy this technology throughout our network of organic dairy farm suppliers.”

“Straus Family Creamery has a goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 by supporting on-farm practices on its 12 supplying organic dairy farms,” says Albert Straus, founder of Straus Family Creamery. “We’re excited to work with Whole Foods Market and Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund to advance nature-based solutions that address climate and food security, supporting our shared vision for thriving, local food and farming systems.”

Straus Family Creamery pioneers technologies to improve sustainability, protect the environment and mitigate climate change. The company sells its certified-organic dairy products — including milk, cream, yogurt and ice cream — at Whole Foods Market, which introduced Windfall to Straus and helped facilitate the pilot project through Windfall’s partnership with Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund. Windfall previously received funding from Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, which has been used to develop the infrastructure deployed in this pilot project.

“Through collaboration with suppliers, we’re accelerating our carbon reduction efforts across our supply chain as part of our purpose to nourish people and the planet,” says Caitlin Leibert, vice president of sustainability at Whole Foods Market. “By treating the environment as a core stakeholder, we’re working to build a more resilient food system that ensures long-term food security and economic growth for our farmers.”

Windfall’s mems consume methane as a food source, transforming it into nitrogen-rich biomass that can be processed into organic fertilizer and used on a dairy farm or sold in the market. Windfall’s bioreactor technology allows for continuous monitoring and remote operation, reducing the burden on the farmer for operation while also providing quantitative, auditable data to show the impact of the process.

Straus Family Creamery is now evaluating commercial-scale deployments at additional dairy farms within its network. In tandem, Windfall is conducting larger, demonstration-scale deployments across the agriculture, oil and gas, and waste management sectors to generate additional field data and validate the robustness of its methane-to-value solution for other industrial use cases.