Joseph Gallo Farms is California's 'green' cheesemaker
At Joseph Gallo Farms, nothing goes to waste. Whey becomes a revenue stream. Process water is recycled for irrigation and manure is converted to gas to power generators.
Joseph Gallo Farms might just be the very model of a modern major cheesemaker. It’s all about use and re-use. Nothing goes to waste at this central California cheesemaking and dairy farming business. What little waste there is is re-purposed into salable ingredients, energy or gray water.
The cheesemaking operation in Atwater turns watery whey into powdered dairy ingredients and animal feed. What’s left flows to an anaerobic digester for treatment and then is discharged into a lagoon. This water irrigates the fields that grow crops to feed the cows that produce the milk.