Open House Showcasing Year Round Farm Technology in Waldoboro, November 2

Oct 23, 2017

Energy efficient farm buildings on display at Waldoboro Business Park

The Maine Sustainable Agriculture Society (MESAS) is Hosting an Open House to demonstrate year round agriculture technology at Waldoboro Business Park, 1 Pie Rd in Waldoboro at 4PM on Thursday November 2nd. The event is free and open to the public, however pre-registration is encouraged through MESAS.org.

 
The Maine Sustainable Agriculture Society (MESAS) has been working to develop best practices for year round agriculture producers that will help farmers save money and add value to Maine farm products. It includes innovations for greenhouses, farm buildings that include built-in solar technologies for electricity and heat, along with agriculture technology, that are viable for food storage facilities, dairy barns or any large climate-controlled year round production or storage facilities. A tour with light refreshments will commence at 4PM. Mick Dunn of Shift Energy and phase-change insulation company Insolcorp based in Biddeford with to answer design questions.

Waldoboro Business Park recently contracted with Portland greenhouse design and engineering firm ArchSolar to design an agricultural building that would be easy and affordable to control the climate twelve months of the year. The result is a prototype structure with integrated photo-voltaic electricity and a large solar heating wall that can help heat or cool the facility to a consistent temperature. The combination with save significantly on heating and electricity bills. The building is also insulated with a phase change material – a type of insulation that works much like an ice pack in your cooler but in reverse – which helps the building hold heat much longer that other options available for large quonset-style structures.

The building is a prototype of advanced structures that are beginning to define the future of agricultural infrastructure.  The Waldoboro structure is one of five demonstration sites working with a team of agriculture, clean tech, and composite industry partners called the Maine Sustainable Year Round Agriculture Cluster Initiative or SYRA for short. More on the project is available at the Maine Sustainable Agriculture Society’s website MESAS.org.

View the event page here: www.mesas.org/nov-2-event-page

More info on the Maine Sustainable Agriculture Society: www.mesas.org

The Maine Sustainable Agriculture Society is a 501 (c)(3) organization working to help farmers capture more of the consumer dollar through lowering the cost of inputs, adding value to their products, and scaling their operations in a sustainable way. We serve Maine farms across scales and production styles to achieve a triple bottom line of profitable farms, healthy ecosystems and strong communities.