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As industries go, agriculture represents one of the worst environmental offenders, according to research by the United Nations Environment Programme<\/a>. Farms need tending around the clock. So besides all the fertilizers, pesticides and water they use, farms also burn a lot of fossil fuels and money to keep the lights on, tractors rolling and refrigerators humming.<\/p>\n Now one major agricultural player in the US,\u00a0Taylor Farms<\/a>,\u00a0is making an effort to make food without fossil fuels, and shrink its environmental footprint. The company recently completed a makeover of the systems used to power its Gonzales, Calif. facilities, where it makes fresh-cut salads and other vegetables.<\/p>\n Taylor Farms produce is sold at major groceries like Target, Walmart, Publix, Sams Club and Stop and Shop. Its competitors include the likes of Dole Fresh Vegetables, Chiquita-owned Fresh Express, Ready Pac Produce and Earthbound Farms.<\/p>\n Nicole Flewell, director of sustainability at\u00a0Taylor Farms, told TechCrunch, \u201cWe have three different technologies at this one site. So it\u2019s a unique ecosystem of energy production.\u201d Previously, the company had tried out solar, wind and fuel cells but never used more than one renewable energy source at a time on any of its farms.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are a 24-hour, 365 business, so to tie these elements together, we had to shut down for 6 to 8 hours and that was a substantial challenge. You can\u2019t kill power for a substantial time where you have a refrigeration facility,\u201d Flewell explained.<\/p>\n The company had to batten down the hatches around its chilled rooms, ship out as much product as it could at once, and push their food production schedule ahead to prepare shipments for buyers early, for days ahead of the switch.<\/p>\n The Gonzales facility now employs: solar, wind and co-generation systems from REC Solar<\/a>, Foundation Wind Power<\/a> and Concentric Power<\/a>. While solar and wind power are already familiar technologies to most, co-generation may not be.<\/p>\n The Concentric Power system installed at Taylor is a \u201ccogen\u00a0plant,\u201d that\u2019s about 40 by 60 feet. It uses natural gas and waste heat to provide low-temperature refrigeration for Taylor\u2019s vegetables. Installing such a system requires tie-ins to a facility\u2019s pipes and electrical systems. It\u2019s not quite like plugging in a new refrigerator at home.<\/p>\n Taylor Farms\u2019 co-generation plant.<\/p>\n Why pack three different types of cleantech into one farm? Wasn\u2019t solar enough in the sunny Salinas Valley? Flewell explained, \u201cWe are located in a wind channel off the Monterey Bay. We wanted to take advantage of that. And we could easily install 1MW of rooftop solar. But those are intermittent energy sources\u2026We worried if we\u2019d have enough power every night and every season. Cogen let us meet that baseline capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Taylor Farms CEO and founder Bruce Taylor the company started testing out renewable energy technologies five or six years ago, purchasing the first version of the Bloom Energy<\/a> cell, and installing solar arrays at its Salinas retail plant.<\/p>\n Some things didn\u2019t go according to plan, he reflected: \u201cWe learned a lot of things like you may have to clean your solar panels more frequently than you expected if a construction site next door starts blowing a lot of dust.\u201d Other things were a happy surprise, he said. Taylor Farms has been able to generate far more power from solar than it thought it might, and now has more surplus to sell back to the grid.<\/p>\n \u201cIt does feel like we are moving quickly relative to other food producers,\u201d he said. \u201cOur goal is for energy independence. We are working to get ourselves off the grid.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rsoftsolution.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/RSSPoster_PRO\/cache\/645f0_taylor_farms_cogen.jpg?resize=640%2C421&ssl=1\")
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