Dairy Waste Research

Diverse Team of Graduate, Postdoctoral Researchers Finding Value in Dairy Waste

Diversity is the hallmark of a recent $10 million grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture to build sustainability and prosperity for the dairy industry in Idaho and beyond.

The 20 graduate students and postdoctoral researchers working with faculty on this grant come from many regions, countries, disciplines and backgrounds. The theme of diversity also aptly encompasses their research. The team is taking an array of creative approaches toward addressing a common yet critical challenge — transforming one person’s waste into another person’s treasure.

The five-year project is titled “Creating a New Bioeconomy for Dairies to Increase Nutrient Recycling, Enhance Productivity of Crops & Stimulate Prosperity in Rural America.” It includes a team of agronomists, economists, animal scientists, engineers and soil and water experts.

The team has been developing management practices, processes and technologies to produce bioproducts like fertilizer substitutes and bioplastics at a large scale from dairy waste streams.

They’re also evaluating economic returns, environmental benefits and the perceived value to consumers and dairy producers of bioproducts.

No conscious choice was made to field such a diverse research team. Rather, the grant’s principal investigator, Mark McGuire, explained the group’s makeup reflects the general diversity among graduate students throughout U of I.

Nonetheless, McGuire, CALS associate dean of research and director of the Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station, believes the group’s diversity will be key to its success.

It really behooves us to have people from different perspectives, particularly in the sociological piece. We’re trying to reach different groups of people. Mark McGuire, ISAID grant’s principal investigator

McGuire notes participants from countries such as Armenia, Bangladesh, China and Ghana approach problem-solving and product commercialization through different lenses.

“It really behooves us to have people from different perspectives, particularly in the sociological piece. We’re trying to reach different groups of people,” McGuire said.

The benefit such diversity provides is also perceived by the graduate students themselves.

“The first impression of that group of students is their background is so diverse and I get to talk with people from different backgrounds, which gives me fresh ideas,” said Zhengliang “Lucas” Yang, of China’s Szechuan Province.

Yang, who recently finished his master’s degree in applied economics at U of I and will soon start working on a doctorate at Michigan State University, wrote a paper on the willingness of consumers to pay for bioplastics made from manure, along with other considerations about the technology.

“At least from the perspective of economics, I think biodegradable plastics will definitely improve the living quality and help us save more money, be friendly to the environment and make the world a better place,” Yang said.

Emmanuella Owusu Ansah, a master’s student in plant science from Ghana, helped evaluate the nitrogen response of spring barley and wheat for the project.

“I like the fact that they are trying to help the agricultural sector with sustainability and the environment in mind,” Ansah said.

Dairy waste is voluminous and costly to transport. Environmental challenges may result if surrounding agricultural lands where it’s applied become oversaturated with nutrients. Maggi Laan, of Weiser, is involved in research using biochar — a lightweight residue made of carbon and ashes — to absorb phosphorus from dairy lagoons. The process filters separate nutrients into more easily transportable form, which can be used as a fertilizer substitute.

“It’s really nice to get all of those other perspectives instead of just people in Idaho working on this project that’s based in Idaho,” Laan said.

While getting to know the other students on the project, Laan discovered participants’ appreciation for science was a unifying factor: Team members from different backgrounds who shared a common scientific discipline were most surprised by how much they had in common.

To learn more, visit: www.uidaho.edu/isaid.

This project, titled “Creating a New Bioeconomy for Dairies to increase Nutrient Recycling, Enhance Productivity of Crops & Stimulate Prosperity in Rural America,” is funded under the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant No. 2020-69012-31871. The total project funding is $10,000,000 of which 100% is the federal share. Award grant details can be found on NIFA’s website.