Doing Business Green
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Business Spotlight
Berle Farm | www.berlefarm.com
The quiet fields and rolling hills of Berle Farm on Beechwood Road in Hoosick are home to the best of the old and the new. Here visitors will find a traditional 1840s homestead that includes barns, pastures, outbuildings, and four very non-traditional 21st century solar panels. Thanks to the vision of owner Beatrice Berle, a farmer for more than two decades, this 600-acre business near the New York-Vermont border is a happy mix of farming’s past and its exciting future.
Berle Farm is committed to utilizing the most environmental and healthful farming practices available to produce its certified organic hand-stirred artisan cheeses, yogurt, beef from grass-fed cows, and other seasonal farm goods. It’s no surprise then that Ms. Berle has turned to solar power to cut her utility costs and reduce the farm’s carbon footprint. Since late 2010, Berle Farm has received nearly three-quarters of the energy it needs from a 7.74 kilowatt solar power system, a $60,000 project supported in part by funding from NYSERDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Energy for America (REAP) program. The new solar photovoltaic system has made Berle Farm one of the first renewable energy-powered certified organic farms in the state, supplying up to 75% of the farm’s electricity load. It also will help Ms. Berle save nearly $2,000 per year in utility costs.
“The energy required to run a farm is significant, both in terms of financial and environmental costs,” said Ms. Berle, who expects the project to pay for itself in three to four years. She said switching to solar power made practical business sense, since monthly payments now go towards value-added technology that is good for the environment and good for her bottom line. The solar photovoltaic (PV) system has become the subject of interest for local students and other farmers looking for energy options that don’t require fossil fuels.
Back in 2006, Ms. Berle traveled to Italy to learn the craft of artisan cheese making. She returned to Hoosick, converted the business from a goat dairy to a cow milk dairy, and today produces a raw milk cheese called Berleburg, as well as yogurt sold in glass jars. Beef is produced from Berle Farm’s herd of white Galloway and Angus beef cattle. As for the goats, they’re used for the management of invasive multiflora rose brambles.
All the grains and grasses for the farm’s livestock are grown right on the farm. The farm is certified organic by Stellar Certification Services and Aurora Certified by the Demeter Association. The Berle family believes in the natural cycle of organic farming as the best way to produce quality products and nurture the land
“As an organic farmer it is important to me to be as naturally sustainable as possible,” said Ms. Berle. “REAP and NYSERDA’s solar electric incentive programs are an excellent way to strengthen rural and agricultural businesses, which in turn benefit the economies of our local communities and give momentum to the solar industry. It’s a healthy cycle of success.”