NYS Fair’s butter will be converted into renewable energy for the community

Pavilion, New York — Every year thousands of people enjoy the annual butter sculpture at the New York State Fair, but at the end, there comes a time where butter sculpture must be deconstructed.

The Pavilion farm has made it a tradition to help recycle the butter used in the sculpture.

The artwork will be converted into renewable energy for the community, and to help develop liquid fertilizer.

The 800 pounds of butter that came to the farm in plastic bags will be put into a digestor that creates what Chris Noble calls a “bio-gas” from organic materials.

According to Chris Noble, “It will reside in that digestor for about four weeks, create bio-gas to the tune of about 450 kilowatts per hour”.

Helping out the Fair has multiple benefits for the farm and the community, Noble says.

“Just an example of our farm trying to be more diverse in its economic activities, but also trying to be more sustainable for our community, allowing us to recycle those nutrients that ordinarily would go to a landfill, bringing them back to the system that can capture the methane and the electricity,” he said.

The butter for this year’s sculpture was provided by Batavia’s O-AT-KA Milk Products.