NORTH PLATTE, NEB. — Livestock waste treatment technology developer and premium sustainable beef producer, Bion Environmental Technologies Inc. and fifth generation feeding business and founding member of rancher owned processing company Sustainable Beef LLC, Olson Farms/TD Angus, announced plans to develop a 45,000-head sustainable beef cattle feeding operation near North Platte, Neb.

“We found a great partner in Olson Farms/TD Angus,” said Bill O’Neill, chief executive officer at Bion. “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.”

Bion will contribute three 15,000-head modules with barns outfitted with solar panels, manure collection and conditioning, biogas recovery and upgrading, ammonia capture and production of organic fertilizer products, and clean water recovery. Performance and processes will be third-party verified, USDA-certified, and recorded on blockchain. The result will be a transparent and sustainable-branded premium product, with significant reductions to the impacts on air, water and soil.

“We are excited to make this Bion project a reality,” said Trey Wasserburger, partner at Olson Farms/TD Angus. “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 have the pedigree and production history to verify it.”

The two businesses will work to create a definitive Joint Venture in early 2023 and anticipate construction to begin in the second half of 2023. In that timeline, Bion and Olson Farms/TD Angus expect to produce initial beef and coproduct revenues by the end of 2024. In 2025 production will ramp up to 135,000 head per year.