Whitetail Organics’ Food For Soil Rolf Severtson Ian McClaire Angel Troxler May 10th, 2011 Overview: Whitetail Organics is a mid‐sized worm farm located just outside of Colfax, WI. The owners, Ed and Jessica Rebak, run the farm with the help of two hired hands. Their main product is organic earthworm castings, though they also sell Red Hot Crawler worms (African Night Crawlers), worm cocoons (eggs), home composting units, and other byproducts like compost. They sell their products on site at their farm, online, and in local gardening stores. Currently, Whitetail Organics produces and sells roughly 330 tons of earthworm castings annually. They started production in 2009 and have been growing ever since. They are at a point where they want to expand their earthworm castings business by 100%. To do this, they want to increase the efficiency and production of their worm castings process and design a bag for their worm castings and compost that is unique to Whitetail Organics. We came up with two projects to address their future needs. The first project is to come up with a plan to increase the efficiency of their worm castings production process in preparation for their future expansion. The current process is slow and laborious. The second project is to design new bags for their compost and worm castings that are unique to Whitetail Organics. They are currently using a bag supplied by Unco Industries, a larger worm farm in Racine, WI. This bag has no information about Whitetail Organics. It is important for Whitetail Organics to have their own bag so they can build a name for themselves. If a customer buys their worm castings in Unco’s bag, they would assume that the castings came from Unco Industries, not Whitetail Organics. The design of the new bag will include bag material, bag type, bag color, and the design, colors, and ink used for the logo and product information. More details about this project are presented later in this paper. Project 1: Earthworm Castings Production Worm Castings Process Current Conditions: Earthworm castings are the excretions left behind by worms after they eat and digest organic material. Worm castings are an odor free, natural, and organic fertilizer. The worm castings production process is currently housed in a heat‐controlled pole barn. To make the worm castings, a mixture of peat moss, grain, milk powder, and worms is placed into buckets, which are stacked on pallets and sit for two weeks allowing the worms to process the peat into worm castings and then reproduce. After the two week period, the buckets are dumped into a harvester which separates out the worm castings from the worms and any unprocessed material. The worms are placed back into buckets with new peat and the process is repeated. Photo 1: Buckets of worms and peat stacked on pallets Current Process Steps: 1.
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Peat is mixed with grain and milk powder and is aerated 2.5 gal of peat mixture is placed in a 3.5 gal bucket Worms are placed in the bucket The buckets each get watered The buckets are stacked 84 buckets/pallet onto 35 pallets (Photo 1) The buckets sit for 2 weeks to allow worms to process peat mixture into casting Buckets dumped by hand into harvester one at a time (Photo 2) Worms from previously dumped bucket fall into a fresh bucket of peat (Photos 3 & 4) Castings are sifted out and fall into two wheelbarrows (seen in photo 2) Wheelbarrows are wheeled to bagging area and dumped by hand into bags o Bag sizes: 2000 lb, 30 lb, 15 lb, 5 lb, and 1 lb 11. The process is repeated Photo 2: Feeding the harvester with a bucket of processed peat Photo 3: The worms falling into the next bucket of fresh peat The current castings harvesting process is set up as a one bucket in, one bucket out system. In other words, only the contents of one bucket are dumped into the harvester at any time. As the castings from that bucket are separated, the remaining material and worms are sorted and the worms fall into a new bucket with peat (Photo 3). After that bucket’s contents have made it all the way through the harvester, a new bucket can be dumped into the harvester. This one bucket in, one bucket out system is done to control the number of worms in each bucket. Because the castings can only be separated one bucket at a time, the process is very slow and laborious. Photo 4: Red Hot Crawlers in some fresh peat Current Output:  Rate: 2 people harvest 5 pallets per day maximum in an 8 hour day  Yield: 1 bucket yields 10‐12 lbs castings  One day of harvesting yields between 1.5 and 2.5 tons of castings  28 tons of castings are harvested per month Current Economic Factors: The economic factors are the biggest driving force in changing their process. Currently, there is a minimum cost of $60 to $80 of labor per ton of castings produced. Additionally, during the winter months, the barn that houses the worms has to be heated to 70 degrees Fahrenheit to maintain the productivity of the worms. Other costs include the cost of the feed stock, which costs about $50 for enough to make a ton of pure castings. Current Environmental Factors: A significant environmental factor, as mentioned earlier, is the necessity to keep the barn at a minimum of 70 degrees Fahrenheit during the winter months. This requires a large amount of resources. Though, the biggest environmental factor of the current castings production method is the feed stock used. The peat moss has to be mined from a peat bog and then transported from Wisconsin Rapids to Whitetail Organics. The peat that is mined accumulates at a rate of about one millimeter per year and has taken thousands of years to build up. Because of this slow reproduction, the peat bogs are a quickly disappearing ecosystem in the world. Because peat is not a quickly renewable resource, Ed and Jess are working to find a new feedstock that is renewable and located closer to Whitetail Organics. Current Social Factors: The social factors involved in Whitetail Organics current castings production method are also a big driving force in changing their process. The current process is very laborious, taking 6 to 8 man hours to harvest one ton of pure castings. The process includes a lot of repetitive motion, heavy lifting, and awkward movement. Project Proposals: Worm Castings Future Process This year, Whitetail Organics will be putting up a new building to expand their worm castings business by 100%, up to 60 tons of castings per month. The old building will be turned into a shipping area for finished product. The expansion could happen one of two ways. Whitetail Organics could try to increase the efficiency of their current castings production process and expand that to the point of producing 60 tons per month. They could also completely redesign their castings production process to a more efficient method, the continuous flow production method. If they were to choose to redesign their process, now would be the time because they could design their new building around the new process. Option 1: Increase and Improve Current Production The first option is to improve and increase Whitetail Organics’ current production methods. To get the desired 60 tons per month, they would have to increase from 35 pallets of 84 buckets each, to more than 50 pallets. To handle the increased production, Whitetail Organics will have to streamline their current process and most likely hire more help. Until recently, the bottleneck in the process was at the harvester. Only one bucket can be dumped into the harvester at a time and that bucket has to be worked through the harvester before the next bucket can be dumped. Because it is difficult to increase the speed of the harvester, a second harvester was recently brought in to speed up that part of the process. The second harvester has improved their efficiency significantly. A suggestion for further improvement in loading the harvester is to put the harvesters at a lower height for easier loading. If you look back to photo 2, you can see that the harvester is about chest high on a six foot tall person. That could be lowered about a foot to decrease the physical stress on the operator. Additionally, the wheelbarrows, seen in photo 2, could be replaced with a small system of conveyor belts that would carry the castings up and into the one ton bags. This would eliminate the laborious step of filling the one ton bags by hand. Currently, to load the buckets with the fresh peat mixture, the operator has to bend down and fill the bucket with a scoop. To reduce the stress on the operator, the bin with the peat mixture could be raised to a higher level or a hopper with an agitator could be used to fill the buckets instead of the operator bending down and loading the bucket with a scoop. Economic Factors: Whitetail Organics has a limited budget for their new process improvements. The cost of the new building and process improvements must not exceed their budget. By making the above process improvements, Whitetail Organics would reduce its labor costs. With them planning on building a new barn to house their castings production, they can create a more energy efficient barn for the winter months. This will decrease the costs of heating the barn. All of these improvements will help them pay off the costs of the building and process improvements and, in the future, have greater profits. Environmental Factors: The biggest environmental factor of the current castings production method is the feed stock used. Ed and Jess are working to find a new feedstock that is renewable and located closer to Whitetail Organics. The environmental impacts of their process will decrease with the addition of their new, more energy efficient barn. Social Factors: By simply improving the ergonomics of the current process, the stress on the operators would be decreased and the efficiency could improve by around 10%. Also, by removing the wheelbarrows and replacing them with a conveyer belt, a significant portion of the labor would be removed. Replacing the bin and scooper with a hopper to load the buckets with peat would solve another ergonomic issue. Each of these changes would increase the efficiency of the production and would take out some of the awkward movements. Option 2: Continuous Flow Vermiculture Continuous flow vermiculture is a process used generally by mid to large scale worm castings and vermicompost producers. Vermiculture is the term used for composting material with worms. Vermicompost is the mixture of castings and unprocessed material that is the end product of vermiculture. To get the final product that Whitetail Organics sells, pure earthworm castings, the vermicompost would have to go through a harvester to separate out the castings. The continuous flow method is different from the individual bucket system that Whitetail Organics currently uses. Instead of the containers with the worms and worm feed material being emptied every two weeks, the continuous flow method is never entirely emptied. Continuous flow vermiculture is done in a large, raised bin with a wide screen floor, seen in Photo 5. The bins usually measure about 3 feet high, 8 feet across, and between 8 and 150 feet long. The worm feed, which is generally a mixture of food scraps or manure, compost, and newspaper or cardboard, is added in thin layers to the top of the bin. The worms move up into the new food and process it into vermicompost. Each time a layer of feed is added to the top, a layer of vermicompost is scraped from the bottom and falls through the large screen onto the floor. See Figure 1 for a cross section of a continuous flow bin. That vermicompost can then be collected and put through a harvester to separate out the pure worm castings. Once the process is started, it is generally not stopped and can be sustained indefinitely. Photo 5: Continuous flow bins Figure 1: Cross section of a continuous flow vermicomposter Possible Advantages of the Continuous Flow Method: The main advantage of continuous flow vermicomposting is the low level of labor needed to produce vermicompost and manage the process. The owner from OrAgGrow, a supplier of continuous flow vermicomposting systems, estimated that it would take between 2 and 3 hours of labor to produce 1 ton of worm castings. The labor involved is also much less strenuous. The system is set up to reduce intensive labor. Technical Factors: Whitetail Organics wants the ability to estimate the size, age, and number of worms that they have at any given time. By taking core samples of the worm beds, you can estimate the number, size, and age of your worm population. The more core samples you take the more accurate your estimate. Resources Required: To make the switch to a continuous flow vermicomposting system would take a lot of new resources. The biggest would be a new building to house the worm beds. The resources of the materials to make the worm beds and the labor involved to build the worm beds would be very significant. Additionally, the new process would require a lot of new knowledge to get high output from the worm beds. Economic Factors: The economic factors are very significant for the continuous flow method. The start‐up costs for a system that could handle the desired output 60 tons of castings per month could cost upwards of $150,000. In addition to the high start up cost, there is a higher risk to using a new process. The process would have a lot of unknowns for Ed and Jess. With the higher risks come the possibilities for higher rewards. Because the process takes so little man power, Whitetail Organics could potentially save a lot of money from labor reductions. Environmental Factors: The feedstock material can be changed to food scraps or manure mixed with paper or cardboard. Both would be sustainable and easily attainable options for feed stock. During the winter months, the building with the worm beds would have to be kept at a minimum of 50 degrees, which is much cooler than the 70 degrees they currently need. Because of the larger volume of the worm beds and the heat produced by the vermicomposting process, it is much easier to control temperatures in the winter months. This process can have potential problems in the summer with excessive heat. Social Factors: As stated earlier, the continuous flow vermicomposting method will require much less labor than the individual bin method. Even with the increased production, Whitetail Organics would be using less labor than they currently use. This would most likely mean that Whitetail Organics would have to get rid of at least one of their hired hands or reallocate him to another job. Also, the economic risk of changing the production process could have huge social impacts for everyone involved in Whitetail Organics. Challenges of the Continuous Flow Method: There are some challenges to using the continuous flow method for castings production. The worms should ideally be concentrated in the top four inches of the beds. Unless the beds are properly monitored, worms can be dissipated throughout the entire system. This is mostly caused by too much feed stock being added to the bed. Two problems are caused by adding too much feed stock; unprocessed material passes through the system and a lot of worms exit the system because they follow the unprocessed feed to the bottom of the beds. Another possible problem is maintaining the correct temperature in the worm beds. Heat tends to be more of a problem than cold. Large scale bacterial heating can cause the worms to overheat. Because the worm beds are so big, heat dissipates very slowly. If the worms overheat, they are much less productive and could possibly die. Moisture levels are also important to control. The worms need a certain range of moisture levels to stay alive and produce castings efficiently. The most important challenge is with the worms that Whitetail Organics is currently using, Red Hot Crawlers, or African Crawlers. African Crawlers are burrowers. Normally, continuous flow vermicomposters are stocked with Red Wigglers, which stay and feed in the top of the beds where the food is. If a bed was started with African Crawlers, they could possibly burrow straight through the bottom of the screen or inhabit the entire bed, which would cause major problems. It would be hard to know exactly how the African Crawlers would react when placed in a continuous flow system without running some tests. Summary/Recommendation: We recommend that Whitetail Organics improve and expand their current worm castings production method. The challenges of the continuous flow production method are too significant. Whitetail Organics would most likely have to start from scratch using a different worm to get the process to work efficiently. A process shift of that magnitude would take a lot of time and effort to recover from. We believe that Whitetail Organics is better off continuing with and making improvements to the process that they know. These process improvements, like lowering the harvester, putting in a conveyor belt to fill the one ton bags, and putting in a hopper to load the buckets with feed stock, would improve efficiency and would allow Whitetail Organics to increase production more easily. In addition to the process improvements, we suggest that Whitetail Organics test out coir as a substitution for peat as worm bedding. Coir is the fiber from the skin of coconuts and is a quickly renewable and sustainable resource. Finding a coir supplier that is close may be a challenge. The resources used in the increased shipping distance would be offset by the use of a renewable resource over the non‐renewable peat. The peat bog habitat that would be saved would be worth the extra resources from shipping. With these proposed changes process, Whitetail Organics would be a more environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable farm. Project 2: Worm Castings and Compost Bag Current Bag: Currently Whitetail Organics is using LDPE, low slip, white bags with solvent based inks. These bags are produced at Fredman Bag of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They are then sent to Unco Industries of Racine, Wisconsin and finally shipped to Whitetail Organics in Colfax, Wisconsin. One of the greatest reasons for designing a new bag for Whitetail Organics is to cut out the “middle man”. In doing so, there is a major cost savings. Current bag cost per bag size is shown in Table 1. Initial Bag Proposal: Our initial proposal consisted of finding a vendor with the capabilities to process Post Consumer Resin (PCR) and make that into new bags. This would utilize what is now considered waste pellets. We also wanted to use gusseted bags because they provide excellent shelf stability (structurally), are considered more appealing by consumers and are easier to fill. Finally, we wanted to use water based inks for the printing of these bags. Recommended Bag: Our recommended bag is again an LDPE, low slip, white bag with solvent inks, but we have introduced a biodegradable additive. This additive allows for 100% biodegradability in 9 months to 5 years on land, in land or water, in landfills or in compost piles. Normal LDPE bags can have life spans of 5‐5000 years. Cost of this additive is minimal (less than $.01 per bag). It is also recyclable and requires no special storage or handling procedures. It is easily processed and does not contain any heavy metals. Details on this additive are limited because it is proprietary to the supplier. Currently, 5‐8% of solid municipal waste is LDPE films (www.worldofplastic.net). We hope that by using such additives we can reduce the amount of solid waste produced. The proposed cost of our bags is shown in Table 2. Bag Comparison: A comparison of the bags is shown in Table 3 and Chart 1. As you can see, the average cost savings is approximately 42.25%. This is huge, especially for a small company that is trying to grow. Again, the major savings is due to direct shipping from the manufacturer. Another major savings due to this direct shipping is gallons of Diesel and CO2 emissions. Table 4 shows the calculations for a 13% reduction in diesel needed and CO2 output. The assumptions in these calculations include: a semi will get 5 miles per gallon and 1 gallon of diesel will create 22 pounds of CO2. Table 1 Current Est. Annual Output Bag Size QTY Cost/Case QTY Cost/Bag QTY Cost ($) (lbs) (Cases) ($) (Bags) ($) (Bags) 1 3.0 $175.00
2500
$0.07
5000 $350.00
4.5 3.0 $126.00
1000
$0.13
4000 $504.00
15 3.0 $185.00
500
$0.37
3000 $1,110.00
30 4.0 $336.60
400
$0.84
14000 $11,781.00
Proposed Bag Size (lbs) 1 4.5 15 30 QTY Cost/Case (Cases) ($) 100.0 $39.98
50.0 $76.94
25.0 $224.72
25.0 $438.49
$13,745.00
Table 2 Est. Annual Output QTY Cost ($) (Bags) 5000 $199.90
4000 $307.76
3000 $674.16
14000 $6,138.86
$7,320.68
QTY Cost/Bag (Bags) ($) 100000
$0.04
50000
$0.08
25000
$0.23
25000
$0.44
Cost Savings Bag Size Savings (lbs) (%) Table 3 Total Savings $6,424.32
1 42.89 % 4.5 38.94 % 15 39.26 % 30 47.89 % Table 4 Current Distribution Pattern Fredman Unco Whitetail
Total Miles 37.80 291.00
328.80 Gal. Fuel 7.56 58.20
65.76 CO2 (lbs) 75.22 579.09
1459.87 Proposed Assumptions Distribution Pattern Fredman Whitetail 5 MPG Miles 286.00 1 gal gas = 22.2 pounds Co2 Gal. Fuel 57.20 Diesel cost $4.20/gallon (April 19th, 2011) CO2 (lbs) 1269.84 Fuel Savings 8.56 Gallons
CO2 Savings 190.03 Pounds
13.02 Current vs. Proposed Price Per Bag
Bag Price ($)
0.9
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% Chart 1
Current
Proposed
1
4.5
15
Bag Size (lbs)
30
Bag Recommendation: The reason we recommend this bag is because the cost makes sense. Again, Whitetail Organics is a small business trying to get off the ground. Perhaps the most important decision for this bag is cost. They plan to grow in the next few years by joining with other worm farms around the Wisconsin and Minnesota area. This Cooperative will use our bags for all production. Once this Cooperative is formed, Whitetail Organics will have more capital to invest in innovation. One of the greatest parts of packaging is that it can always be changed for the better. We would recommend that, in the future, Whitetail Organics looks into water based inks. The reason we do not have water based on our current bags is because the manufacturing process does not allow for it (Fredman does not currently have the capability to use water based inks on this printing and converting line). Perhaps looking for another supplier with these capabilities will be in the best interest. We also recommend looking more into gusseted bags for ease of filling and shelf appeal. Again, we were unable to pursue this option due to the supplier. Finally, it would be interesting to look at more Post Consumer Recycled Content bags. We used the Harrison Directory for Minnesota and Wisconsin and were unable to find any current supplier capable of processing P.C.R. material due to the strain it puts on extrusion equipment. Graphics Change: Whitetail Organics current worm castings bag is too much like a “cartoon” and does not convey the ideas that they want to show consumers. They are looking for a new and modern looking bag and logo design. They also do not have any graphics for their compost bag (using the same material and die line as the 30 pound worm castings bag) and requested we design a fitting bag for this product too. We first started researching other organic products, and found that leaves and plants were commonly used. Another trend was the color green. Green is obviously popular due to the trend in sustainability and “going green”. Knowing this information we developed nine quick pencil sketches that we felt fit the look Whitetail Organics was looking for. These sketches were designs incorporating leafy designs, straight edged designs, and just text designs. From this stage we presented the sketches to Whitetail Organics and they chose three of their favorites. From here, they could not decide whether the bag itself should be white or black. Trying to make a wise decision visually and inexpensive, we developed computer images of the three bags chosen into a black and a white version each Appendix A. After seeing these computer images, they were capable of making a decision to stick with a white background on the bags. We took these three sketches and merged them into a happy medium in the program called Illustrator. While we did this we made sure to keep the color green a main color and made sure that it looked “alive”, “organic”, “simple” and “modern”. Eventually Whitetail Organics got a design they really love. Our finalized graphics are shown in Appendix B. Final Recommendation: To increase production of their worm castings by 100%, we recommend that Whitetail Organics improve and expand their current worm castings production method. Whitetail Organics will increase their efficiency significantly by decreasing ergonomic issues and removing laborious tasks from production. To address their lack of a bag that is unique to Whitetail, we recommend using our proposed designs on a biodegradable, LDPE, low slip, white bag with solvent based inks. The change will decrease costs by 42%, decrease the resources used during shipping, and decrease the impact of the bags after the consumer discards them. In the future, we recommend that Whitetail Organics look for a different supplier that has gusseted bags and can print using water based inks. These two changes would further reduce the environmental impacts of the packaging and would make the bags easier to fill and more attractive on the shelves. With these proposed changes, Whitetail Organics will be more environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable. Appendix A Appendix B Appendix C Initial Timeline February2011
Sunday
Monday
6 Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
1 2
3
4
5 7 8 9
10
11
12 13 14 15 Meet in Class 16
17
18
Work Day 19 20 21 22 Progress Report #1
I – Vendors A– Sketches R ‐ Development 23
24 25
Work Day 26 27 28 March2011
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
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1 Project Overview I – Vendors & Designs A – Narrow Designs R – Design Start 2
3
Work Day 4 5
6 7 8 CLASS DAY Status Update from group 9
10
Work Day 11 Spring Break 12
Spring Break 13 Spring Break 14 Spring Break 15 Spring Break 16
Spring Break 17
Spring Break 18 Spring Break 19
Spring Break 20 Spring Break 21 22 Work Day Status Update from Group Work on Progress Report 23
24
Progress Report #2 25 26
27 28 29 Meet With Ed I – Solidify vendor & Design A – Review Design Options 30
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Work Day April2011
Sunday Monday
Tuesday
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Saturday
1 2 3 4 5 NO CLASS ADVISEMENT DAY 6
7
Work Day 8 9 10 11 12 Progress Report I – Finalize Design Structure
A – Final Design R – Model Approved 13
14
Draft Due 15 16
17 18 19 Work Day 20
21
22 Meet With Martha 23
24 25 26 Progress Report 27
28
Work Day 30
Wednesday
29 May2011
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
1 2 3 Work Day 4 8 9 10 Oral Presentation 15 16 22 29 Friday
Saturday
5
Design Project Report and Documentation due 6 7 11 12
13 14
17 18 19
20 21
23 24 25 26
27 28
30 31 Thursday
References: Administrator. "Mid‐ and Large‐scale Worm Composting Systems." Earthworm Digest. 11 Sept. (2005): 30 Mar. 2011 http://www.wormdigest.org/content/view/71/2/. Administrator. "Reviews ? Mid‐ and Large‐scale Continuous Flow Systems." Earthworm Digest. 11 Sept. (2005): 30 Mar. 2011 http://www.wormdigest.org/content/view/72/2/. Coe, Ed. Emission Facts: Average Carbon Dioxide Emissions Resulting from Gasoline and Diesel Fuel . N.p., 12 Apr. 2011. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. Path: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/climate/420f05001.htm#calculating. Eau Claire Gas Prices. N.p., 12 Apr. 2011. Web. 12 Apr. 2011. Path: http://www.automotive.com/gas‐
prices/33/wisconsin/eau‐claire/eau‐claire/index.html. Grand, Alfred. “The Advanced Vermicomposting Facility VERMIC 3.2 ‐ Worm Composting.” 24 Jan. 2009. YouTube. 28Mar. 2011 Halphin, Becky. Windswept Worm Farm. 816‐224‐2956. http://www.windsweptwormfarm.com/ Halphin, Doug. “Windswept Worm Farm Tour.” 2 Jun. 2008. YouTube. 28 Mar. 2011 Herlihy, Thomas. “Principals and Practices of Commercial Scale Vermicomposting and Earthworm Husbandry.” NC State Vermicomposting Workshop. Jun. 2009. http://wormpower.net/pdf/NC%20State%202009%20Presentation_2.pdf Holcomb, Dan and Longfellow, John J. " OCSR Vermicomposting Bin Design Plans." Earthworm Digest. 11 Sept. (2005): 30 Mar. 2011 http://www.wormdigest.org/content/view/43/2/. Holcomb, Dan. OrAgGrow. 541‐929‐6050. http://www.everwoodfarm.com/prodlist.asp?idCategory=102 Jim The Trucker. N.p., Feb. 2009. Web. 1 Apr. 2011. Path: http://www.jimthetrucker.com/what‐do‐you‐
think‐the‐average‐mpg‐is‐for‐a‐semi‐truck/. “Vermicomposting.” http://www.worms.com/vermicomposting.html World of Plastic, Information. N.p., 2011. Web. 12 Apr. 2011. Path: http://www.worldofplastic.net/. “Worm Power – Worm Castings Fertilizer.” 31 Jul. 2007. YouTube. 28 Mar. 2011 Worm Power. http://www.wormpower.net/