but times are tough for dairy farmers, so melnick has diveified. land is now part farm, part renewable energy plant.oc the prs starts here.s >> thiis the manure pit, as we i like to call >> reporter: but he needs more than manure. the trick to making this waste- to-energy system profitablmeis volume, anick has found an abundant source. millns of pounds each year o surplus and spoiled food that would otise be destined for a landfill, now arrives at his farm in trucks like this. the food saps are ground up into a liquid slurry that gets pumped into this pit.dd the more youthe more electricity you can make. the waste comefrom all over. there's unsoldroduce from whole foods, scraps and whey from a cabot butter plant, and spent grain from a local brewery. >> inside the digester it's about a million gallon tank. it's heated to 105 degrees and inside there are tiny microbes. >> reporter: microbes from these cow's digestive tracks and the rotting food produce methane, which is usually released into the atmosphere, aying a role in climate change. but here,

just down the road, dairy farmer peter melnick is, too. >> we are taking food waste from all over theater boston area and our verywn cow manure. t we mm together in the digester vessel and make electricity. >> reporter: this land has been in melnick's family for four generations. but times are tough for dairyrm ers, so lnick has diversied. his land is now part farm, part renewable energy plant. the process arts here. >> this is the manure pit, as we like to call it. >> reporter: but he needs more than manure. the trick to making this waste- to-energy system profitable ln lume, and k has found an abundant source. millions of pounds each year of surplus and spoiled hat would otherwise be destined for a landfill, now arrivetrat his farm iks like this. the food scraps are ground up into a liquid slurry that gets pumped into this pit. the more you add, the more elecicity you can make. the waste comes from all over. there's unsold pduce from whole foods, scraps and whey from a cabot butter plant, and spent grain from a lal brewery. >> inside the digester it's about a million gallon tank. it