Bion Environmental Technologies Inc., a developer of livestock waste treatment technology and premium sustainable beef, and Olson Farms/TD Angus announced a letter of intent to develop a 45,000-head sustainable beef cattle feeding operation near North Platte, Nebraska.

The project will consist of three of Bion’s 15,000-head modules that will include barns with solar panels, manure collection and conditioning, biogas recovery and upgrading, ammonia capture and production of organic fertilizer products, and clean water recovery. All processes and performance will be third-party verified, USDA-certified, and recorded on blockchain, which will support a transparent and sustainable-branded premium product, with dramatic reductions in impacts to air, water and soil.

Bion and Olson Farms/TD Angus will work together to create a definitive joint venture in early 2023, with construction anticipated to commence in the second half 2023. That timeline is expected to produce initial beef and coproduct revenues by the end of 2024 that will ramp up quickly in 2025 to up to 135,000 head of annual production.

Trey Wasserburger, Olson Farms/TD Angus’ partner, stated, “We are excited to make this Bion project a reality. It’s a perfect fit for our ‘conception to consumer’ model, where TD Angus bulls sire commercial calves at ranches all over the country. Those calves are brought back and fed at our family-owned feedyard and, beginning in 2024, harvested in our local producer-owned packing plant. Until now, beef sustainability has always been a proclamation. We look forward to supplying beef that is truly sustainable, for producers and the environment alike, and that [has] the pedigree and production history to verify it.”

Bill O’Neill, Bion’s CEO, said, “We found a great partner in Olson Farms/TD Angus. We are inspired by Kirk Olson’s and Trey’s vision to produce cattle that are better for the consumer, better for the planet, and better for the producer. That’s a perfect complement to our own vision and Bion’s mission. We really look forward to working together with them as we roll out our technology and business platform and demonstrate what truly sustainable beef really is.”

Sources: Bion; Olson Farms/TD Angus