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12 Sunday,March 2,2008 WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES PROGRESS 2008 Farmers turn to technology to handle manure efficiently FROM PAGE 10 ments. “I think today most farmers are trying to be a little more scientific,” she said. “It isn’t a perfect science, but they’re trying to do a better job.” Manure is an essential component to farm life, agrees Erin L. Riddle, chairwoman of the farm and food committee for the New York state chapter of the Sierra Club. Yet she believes there are significant questions surrounding large manure storage facilities. Nutrients from excess manure can leach into local drinking supplies, particularly in wellreliant rural areas, she said, and the manure can produce a smell so potent it leaves a taste. “To live in the country and say, ‘This is farming, this is what you have to deal with,’ that’s not the case,” she said. “You’re not supposed to have this nasty taste in your throat or in your mouth because of the pollution coming from a CAFO.” As the size of dairy operations in the north country increases, Ms. Riddle said, she fears another disaster similar to the one at Marks Farms. “We’re pushing an industrial model that’s beyond what’s sustainable for land and food production,” she said. “The issue isn’t really the spreading of manure. It’s how it’s done in a way that the land is not able to absorb the manure and nutrients into the soil.” In the search for maximization, farmers also have several options when it comes to spreading the manure. As the co-owner of Dairy Support Services Company Inc., Scott F. Potter is intimately familiar with the various forms of manure application. Based in Truxton, Mr. Potter’s company performs manure spreading for hire for about 60 farms across Central and Northern New York. Depending on the circumstance, the company can then either spread the manure on the surface of the field, churn it into the land or inject it below the surface, once his 10-wheel tanker trucks have delivered the liquid from a farm’s lagoon. Mr. Potter said he has four main tools when it comes to manure application: a drag hose, to spray manure over a wide area without disturbing a growing crop like hay; a rolling spike to poke divots 2 to 4 inches into the field; a chisel plow injector to work manure through a complete layer of soil, from 8 to 10 inches, like a Rototiller in a garden; and a no-till injector, which could make horizontal slits down 5 to 8 inches, leaving the surface of a field undisturbed. Farmers have increasingly turned to the no-till injector as a way to reduce soil erosion by preserving the surface, even though such a practice can result in more weeds to control, said Mr. Potter. All four practices cut down on the odor in the fields, which can be the most problematic aspect of spreading large amounts of manure. “I think farmers are definitely wanting to be good environmental stewards,” Mr. Potter said. “They’re not afraid to do the right things to do that.” One of the local farmers pushing into new areas for manure application and use is Douglas W. Shelmidine, president of the board of the Jefferson County Agricultural Development Corp. and co-owner of Sheland Farms, a 560-cow dairy farm on County Route 79, town of Ellisburg. In 2006, Sheland Farms started using a drag hose system to pump the farm’s 3.5 million gallons of lagoon manure directly into neighboring fields. The process, which depends on gravity to make it work, cut down on both the manure smell and the compaction caused by manureladen trucks rolling through fields, said Mr. Shelmidine. To reach fields farther from the farm, Mr. Shelmidine uses a portable tank, which is filled with manure in the field and then spread by drag hoses. But the drag hose system is not the only way Mr. Shelmidine has pushed ahead in the manure game. In October, he unveiled a $1.56 million anaerobic digester at the farm. “Part of the reason for us to do the digester was to reduce odors as much as possible,” he said. “No doubt when we’re covering large numbers of acres on nice warm days in the spring, it’s pretty intense smelling.” By capturing and processing methane gas, the digester is able to turn manure into electricity and heat for the farm. The remaining manure is either processed into bedding, replacing the traditional straw or sawdust, or turned into a type of fertilizer with less smell than the original manure. The digester has also produced a cost savings for the farm, where electricity bills have GROWING WITH THE NORTH COUNTRY! NOW 8 GREAT LOCATIONS IN CENTRAL AND NORTHERN NEW YORK! OUR NEWEST LOCATION NYS Route 11 - Evans Mills Near Fort Drum North Gate CHOOSE FROM OVER 1,200 CARS - TRUCKS - VANS - SUVS SHOP OUR COMPLETE INVENTORY ONLINE www. 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The financial benefits help, but Mr. Shelmidine said the drag hose system and the digester are most useful at reducing the environmental impact of manure application. “We’re concerned that we’re doing the right thing,” Mr. Shelmidine said. “We make our livelihood from the soil and water. If we do damage to those two things, it impacts our livelihood.” The environmental questions surrounding excess manure are ones that Bion Environmental Technologies Inc., New York City, hopes to address with a proposed ethanol production plant in the Massena Electric District. As part of the project, Bion would use manure produced by 84,000 cows on six industrial beef farms to produce millions of gallons of ethanol. James W. Morris is Bion’s chief technology officer and co-invented the Bion process. Mr. Morris said the company Revitalize Yourself. Gain the Confidence and Smile You've Always Wanted. A Private, Professional Practice Eastern Boulevard, Watertown sunshinedentalny.com 779-8080 could help solve the problem of the excess manure produced by large operations. “When you have more animals than you have the needed area to spread the manure on, you’re causing environmental damage,” hesaid. “You have to have a way to treat those nutrients.” He said the Bion process essentially takes odorous compounds in the manure and reduces them to a small fraction of what a farm produces, through a relatively inexpensive process. While the coarse material will become dried bricks to fuel the ethanol production facility, the liquids will be strained and run through a constructed wetland, leaving water clean enough to irrigate crops. Mr. Morris said the solids also would go back to the land, as a nutrient-rich ash that can be sold as commercial fertilizer. “The paradigm that I’ve always tried to get students to look at is not to think of these materials as waste at all, but necessary residuals,” Mr. Morris said. As a member of the unaffiliat- NORTH COUNTRY Y STORAGE BARNS For All Your Custom Cabin Needs Call John Martin For A FREE Quote ROUTE 11 SOUTH, PHILADELPHIA, NY • CALL 642-0209 • MOBILE 767-3923 Create the smile you've always wanted... For that special day Free Smile Makeover Consultations CHIAPPONE’S TIRE A Better Place to Buy Tires NOW AVAILABLE AUTO BODY PARTS 557 W. Main St., Watertown, NY 782-1900 ed Bion Working Group, composed of residents who say the company has not provided enough information, Robin Mc- Clellan said there are significant questions surrounding the Massena proposal. If all 84,000 cows drank 10 gallons of water a day, for example, Mr. McClellan said, difficulties could arise with the management of 840,000 gallons of daily liquid discharge. “What happens if you get a problem at the digester?” he asked. “What happens if you can’t process it?” Mr. McClellan is concerned about antibiotics passing into the manure and worries about problems large manure production facilities might have in the cold. But his biggest worry is over the size of projects such as Bion. “I’m not suggesting that we go back to 100-cow dairies,” he said. “I’m suggesting the scale ramp up at a reasonable rate and we look at the problems. As size increases, the potential for problems increases exponentially.” Expansion by Verizon will benefit Franklin users PRNEWSWIRE PLATTSBURGH— In a continuing effort to provide the best wireless service for local residents in Franklin County, Verizon Wireless has expanded its network with a new cell site in Hogansburg. The new site improves coverage and capacity in the towns of Hogansburg and Rooseveltown, and along routes 37 and 37C. Verizon Wireless has invested nearly $44 billion in the last seven years — on average, more than $5 billion every year since the company was formed — to increase the coverage and capacity of its national network and to add new services, including wireless data services such as picture messaging, text messaging and wireless Internet access. NationalAccess, the company’s national high-speed wireless data network, provides wireless Internet access at speeds between 60 and 80 kilobits per second, with bursts up to 144 kbps. Fort Drum Watertown Boonville Rome Yorkville WHERE PRICE SELLS & EVERYONE DRIVES!
PROGRESS 2008 WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES Sunday,March Day,Month Date,Year 2,2008 13 C5 Toying with ideas: marketing an invention can be tough By ROBERT RODRIGUEZ MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS FRESNO, Calif. — When a Fresno mother-and-daughter duo’s idea for a hide-and-seek doll made it onto the shelves of one of the nation’s largest toy stores, they felt like they had won the lottery. Shelly Conte and her mother, Cindy Reichman, were riding high. Their patented Hide-N- Seek Hayley doll was being sold at Toys “R” Us stores nationwide, becoming a top seller during the 2005 holiday season. “I remember someone telling us that we were going to be millionaires,” said Shelly Conte. “And I was thinking about it, no doubt.” But Conte and Reichman’s dreams of fame and fortune began to unravel about a year later when a major player in the industry put a new spin on its popular Care Bear by introducing a hide-and-seek version. It soon edged out Hide-N-Seek Hayley, whose sales began to plummet. Business experts say that in a fiercely competitive market for new products, copycats and timing all play a part in whether a new product stays on a store’s shelves or is relegated to the bargain bin. And to survive, they say, an entrepreneur must be market savvy, develop brand loyalty and “sleep with one eye open.” “This can be a very tough business, and knockoff products are commonplace,” said Tim Walsh, a Florida-based toy inventor and author of “Timeless Toys,” a book that looks at classic toys and the people who created them. “The problem is that success often prompts others to want in on what you are doing.” Walsh said a classic example is the Hula-Hoop. The name was trademarked in 1958 by Wham- O, but it didn’t stop others from cashing in on the plastic hoop’s popularity. Walsh estimated that over the years Wham-O has kept only a quarter of the market. Inventors say they never rest easy: The possibility of a much larger competitor taking them out is always a chief concern. “I know I could wake up one day, and it could all be gone,” said Kathleen Whitehurst, co-inventor of DaysAgo, a digital daycounter that attaches to food containers and measures freshness of refrigerated products. “It is a cruel world out there, and that’s why you have to cover all your bases.” Part of Whitehurst’s strategy was to get her product distributed in foreign markets, where copycats often spring up. The DaysAgo counter is sold in the United States, Canada, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Australia and Japan. “You basically have to get out there first and establish yourself as the recognizable brand,” said Whitehurst, of St. Helena, Calif. “But you are never safe. You just have to keep pedaling as fast as you can.” Jennifer Barney, the Fresno mom who created Barney Butter, an almond spread, credited her survival to maintaining strong relationships with the grocery stores that carry her product. She said she holds product demonstrations in as many of the stores as she can. “It can be exhausting,” said Barney, whose butter is sold in six states and 106 stores. “But the bottom line is they want to see sales, and I will only stay alive if my product sells well.” Rookie inventors Reichman and Conte said their tumble from Toys “R” Us taught them many hard lessons, the most sobering is that patents don’t always protect you from copycats. Shocked and frustrated by their abrupt sales slide, Conte and Reichman terminated their contract last year with Hayley’s manufacturer, the Kid-riffic toy company in St. Louis, which they fault for a lack of promotion. Kid-riffic CEO Michael Roberts could not be reached. “We are almost in the exact same position we were eight years ago, when we started this idea,” Cindy Reichman said. Reichman and Conte considered suing Play Along, the Florida-based Care Bear makers, but backed off after a lawyer specializing in such cases advised that they didn’t have a strong enough case. And even so, experts say, defending a patent can cost thousands of dollars in legal fees. A spokeswoman for Play Along’s parent company, JAKKS Pacific, stood by the company’s v BUSINESS UPDATE FRESNO BEE Cindy Reichman, left, and Shelly Conte, mother and daughter, are pictured with their invention, a Hide-N- Seek Hayley doll. The doll was once sold at Toys ‘R’ Us, but competition forced them out of the store. decision to create the hide-andseek Care Bear. Genna Rosenberg of JAKKS Pacific said the owners of Hide-N-Seek Hayley would only have a case for trademark infringement if Play Along gave its bear a similar name to the Hayley toy. The daughter-mom inventor team’s patent attorney, Richard Ryan of Fresno, agreed, saying Play Along was careful not to copy the name “Hayley” or the specific technology used by the doll to play hide and seek. Hayley, a soft 15-inch doll, comes with a hand-held radio v device that offers clues to where she’s hiding. Depending on the distance, the walkie-talkie will tell a child whether he or she is getting closer or farther. “Realistically, their competitor is doing it differently — and frankly not as unique as the Hayley doll,” Ryan said. “But it is not unfair competition, it is just competition.” Reichman and Conte have made calls to toy companies and placed ads in industry magazines hoping to find a new manufacturer — all with no luck. Although Hide-N-Seek Hayley didn’t make millions as Conte and Reichman dreamed of, it did bring in about $100,000, which the pair split and used to pay bills. Conte also bought a couch and a washer and dryer. Still, the pair is not giving up. They want Hayley and a companion toy, a hide-and-seek dog named Sammie, on store shelves and they’re also hoping to enlist the help of Congress, the general public, even Oprah Winfrey, to push for tougher protections for small inventors and against copycats. Children’s home year highlighted by expansions The Children’s Home of Jefferson County expanded services this past year by establishing a Big Brothers Big Sisters affiliate, expanding its prevention programs into St. Lawrence County and renovating its residential treatment facilities. Big Brothers Big Sisters of the North County, which received its national affiliate status in January 2007, has enrolled more than 200 children in its community and site-based programs, matching volunteer adult mentors with children and providing continuing support and activities to participants. The affiliate is operating site-based programs in partnership with Beaver Falls New Life Fellowship in Lewis County and the Potsdam Central School District and SUNY Potsdam in St. Lawrence County. CHJC developed agreements with the Carthage, Massena and Potsdam school districts to implement its Wings program, which works with a district’s highest at-risk students and their families to provide services and coordination to improve student performance and behavior. The agency also completed a $425,000 renovation of one of its four cottages, the first major renovation of residential space in 80 years. Plans for 2008 include developing new partnerships with organizations to expand BBBSNC, prevention and other community-based programs, as well as developing funding streams for the continued renovation of its residential cottages. Founded in 1859, CHJC evolved from an orphanage and foster care facility into a regional residential treatment facility for delinquent, neglected and abused youth. Through the past decade the agency has followed the human services trend of working with troubled families to avoid out-of-home placements, developing a slate of community-based programs that include foster care, delinquency prevention, aftercare treatment, and casework service for special populations. CHJC is headquartered at 1704 State St., Watertown, where its residential treatment program is located, and operates its community-based programs from the Marcy Building in downtown Watertown. The agency employs 150 professionals and support staff. CHJC in fiscal 2007 served nearly 900 clients, more than double the number served in 2002. Karen Y. Richmond is executive director of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit agency, and Mark G. Waterbury is president of its board of directors. School of dance, piano marks third year in city Centre Des Arts Watertown, a school of dance, piano, theater and French operated by Kimberly A. Mittelstadt at the Lincoln Building, 95 Public Square, Suite 308, Watertown, marked its third year in January. Ballet is central to the dance program and it is recommended that all students take at least one year of ballet. Classes are available for students age 3 to adult. There are also pre-pointe and pointe classes. Tap is taught to students ages 3 to adult. It is N recommended that students who take tap also take ballet for OW at least IN HDTV! one year. Jazz dancing is taught to students ages 7 to adult. Each piano lesson is 30 minutes long. Students need to have a piano book that they can use to practice with. French classes run for six weeks and it is recommended that beginning students purchase the book "French in Ten Minutes A Day." Classes sections are taught by age and grade in school. Private and Semi-private tutoring sessions are also available. Theater classes run for six weeks and cover auditioning, acting, singing, movement, character development and makeup. Mrs. Mittelstadt is a graduate of Potsdam State University College with a bachelor of arts degree in French and a master of science in reading. She is state-licensed to teach French, reading and elementary education. She has directed numerous shows for the Watertown community and is currently the president and founder of the Northern New WWNY 7NEW S T HE N ORTH C OUNTRY ’ S F INEST York Dance Alliance. She was instrumental in forming Dance Festival Week and bringing nationally known professional dancers to Watertown to conduct workshops. In January Mrs. Mittelstadt directed a Little Theatre of Watertown production of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” a children’s play based on the C.S. Lewis book. For more about Centre Des Arts Watertown call 782-0908, or e-mail twins@twcny.rr.com The Rookery specializes in condominiums for birds EVANS MILLS — The Rookery, 31139 Gardnerville Road, is a business in which Robert Ashley builds 16-room condominiums for birds. It began last October when Mr. Ashley made a martin condo for his niece as a Christmas present. “I found out after having major heart surgery and a pacemaker that strenuous work was out of the question,” Mr. Ashley writes. “I have always had an interest in building things but never had the time to pursue it.” “I build 16-room martin condominiums and regular bird houses. The houses are built to last out of lumber, not plywood.” “I never knew there was such an interest in the martin houses until I started building them,” he writes. “Do you think it might be because the Martins eat so many mosquitoes?” For more information call Mr. Ashley at 629-4200. Visit morganstanley.com
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