Staff Writer
Pineland Farms Natural Meats (PFNM), which over the past three years has established a 2000 head cattle operation in Fort Fairfield, has opened its new cow manure composting business at the Loring Development facility in Limestone.

Carl Flora, director at the Loring Development Authority and Bill Haggett, PinelandFarms Natural Meats Chairman take a moment to check out the compost windrows, after the official opening of PFNM’s new cow manure composting business located on the former Loring Air Force Base.
A ceremony to kick-off the new composting business took place last week at the compost site, with area farmers, LDA officials, community residents and others on hand.
Carl Flora, director of the Loring Development Authority stated, “The demographics of this area is unique, it’s the perfect piece of property to support this project. By having this site available, we are able to assist Pineland Farms in its operation, it’s assistance regarding a waste issue and is an asset to be able to unify with this company boosting cropland quality. “We are very happy this location had the right characteristics regarding this business.,” Flora added.
Producing large quantities of high quality, organic compost at Loring is the perfect complement to our expanded cattle operation which is now the largest in new England,’ Bill Haggett, PFNM’s chairman stated.” With our present herd of cattle we expect to be processing over 10,000 yards of fully processed compost each year. We have been working closely at Maine’s leading experts in the composting field to assure that our products meet the highest quality standards. Our belief is that growers in Central Aroostook will find it very beneficial to spread this compost material, which will add valuable organic matter and essential nutrients to their fields. In a period of very high fertilizer costs, this compost should provide excellent economic benefits to area farmers,” Haggett added.
The composting process began earlier this summer at a location on the former Loring Air Force Base in multiple windrows of 800 feet each. Composting will continue throughout the year, but most of the finished compost material will be spread following harvest in the fall and again prior to spring planting.
Although most compost material is expected to be used in agricultural operations, PFNM is also producing screened compost meeting organic standards, which will be available for small bulk purchases at it feedlot on the Murphy road in Fort Fairfield , Saturday morning throughout the fall season.
“To support our growing cattle business PFNM is making large annual purchases in Maine including the acquisition of hundreds of calves, hundreds of tons of hay and nearly 300,000 bushels of barley. Agriculture in our state has been a direct beneficiary of our growth thus far and we believe providing large quantities of high quality and safe compost at reasonable prices to Maine farmers and other buyers will help agriculture in a different way and is the logical next step in the evolution of PFNM,” Haggett concluded.
The compost windrows which are approximately 100 feet by 800 feet (estimated 70,000 yards of composting material) produces no offensive smell. The rows are turned over routinely to allow the microbes to do their job of consuming the bacteria within the substance. The temperature of the compost is gauged and monitored carefully, by a temperature probe. The temperature range is between 120 — 190 degrees. Should the material become too hot the microbes are killed off, causing the decomposition to slow down or stop.
The end result of the composting process is a deep, rich soil used to enhance area croplands.
Aroostook Republican photo/Barb Scott
Compost is turned to ensure the microbes continously break down the bacteria within the material.