Boston, MA — Vermont Creamery and Vanguard Renewables recently announced that Vermont Creamery has joined the Farm Powered Strategic Alliance, a collaborative movement to boost food waste recycling and expand renewable energy production across America. The Alliance was founded in 2020 by Vanguard Renewables, Unilever, Starbucks, and Dairy Farmers of America and now has grown to include 14 U.S. food industry leaders.
“We have long sought an opportunity to use anaerobic digesters to convert food waste into renewable energy, and Vanguard Renewables facility and model is delivering for us,” said Adeline Druart, President of Vermont Creamery. “We must tackle food waste and make good on our goal to turn the food waste we create here in Websterville into renewable energy, and thanks to this partnership, and our new membership to the Farm Powered Strategic Alliance, we’re doing just that.”
The announcement was part of an event at Vanguard Renewables’ Farm Powered anaerobic digester located in, Salisbury, Vermont. Vanguard Renewables’ Chief Strategy Officer John Hanselman and Vermont Creamery’s President, Adeline Druart, were joined at the event by Vermont Secretary of Agriculture Anson Tebbetts, along with Danielle Goodrich-Gingras, Co-owner and Herdswoman, of the Goodrich Family Dairy Farm.
“Vermont Creamery’s commitment to decarbonization and recycling food waste into renewable energy will serve as inspiration to others in the food and beverage industry to join us in this important movement in the fight to stem climate change,” stated Neil H. Smith, chief executive officer at Vanguard Renewables. “Vanguard Renewables is excited to welcome Vermont Creamery into the Farm Powered Strategic Alliance.”
Since April 2022, Vermont Creamery has diverted over 2,750 tons of inedible food waste from the landfill to Vanguard’s anaerobic digester at the Goodrich Family Farm in Salisbury, Vermont. The company has mitigated nearly 1,600 tons of greenhouse gas emissions in just under five months. This is the equivalent of taking nearly 350 cars off our roads for a year, planting over 26 thousand trees, or generating enough power to charge more than 530 thousand individuals’ cell phones annually.
“Vermont farmers are always looking for new ways to improve the environment and be innovators for the rest of the United States,” said Anson Tebbetts, Vermont Secretary of Agriculture. “This is another example of working together to think of solutions that tackle food waste while creating energy. Congratulations to Vermont Creamery and their farmers for this innovative partnership with the Farm Powered Strategic Alliance.”
The Farm Powered Strategic Alliance, named one of Fast Company’s 2021 World Changing Ideas, includes Unilever, Starbucks, Dairy Farmers of America, Vanguard Renewables, Stonyfield Organic, Cabot Creamery, Smithfield Foods, Food Tank (a leading NGO), Chobani, Kikkoman, Schreiber Foods, Hillebrand, Polar Beverages, and now Vermont Creamery. The Alliance offers U.S. food manufacturers and retailers a circular approach to reducing the detrimental environmental impacts of CO2 emissions and provides a pathway toward a carbon-neutral footprint.
“Vermont Creamery has grown from a two-person start-up to become one of the leaders in the sustainable dairy movement,” said John Hanselman, chief strategy officer at Vanguard Renewables. “Working with Adeline and her team to further their commitment to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and to support regenerative agriculture on dairy farms in Vermont is proof that Vanguard’s Farm Powered® movement is changing how food manufacturers are thinking about their waste and how they can turn it into something good for our planet.”
Vanguard Renewables recently announced that a fund managed by BlackRock Real Assets has acquired the company. BlackRock Real Assets will partner with Vanguard Renewables’ management team to build upon the company’s market-leading track record and drive its next phase of growth, including both its expansion of the Farm Powered Strategic Alliance and its plans to commission more than 150 anaerobic digesters to produce renewable natural gas across the country by 2026.
More information about Vermont Creamery’s sustainability initiatives is available on its website.
To learn more about the Farm Powered Strategic Alliance, visit the FPSA website.
For more information on the Farm Powered Anaerobic Digester on the Goodrich Farm in Salisbury, Vermont, read the Goodrich Farm Case Study.
