Game Changing Waste Treatment Solution for Livestock Production Facilities – Bion Environmental Technologies (OTCQB: BNET)

Bion Environmental Techonologies, Technology, Clean Technology, Agriculture, Bion环境科技,清洁科技,农业
Published on: October 18, 2017
Author: NAI500

With water security, climate change and agricultural pollution becoming a growing problem for national and city governments around the world, the wastewater treatment and monitoring industry has grown to over $600 billion.  Particularly in China, the most recent environmental report stated that 61.3% of groundwater and 27.9% of key rivers were classified as “not suitable for human contact” and attributed this trend to agricultural practices.  As China steps up its “war on pollution”, it has created many opportunities for foreign companies to bring in new technologies to China.

Bion Environmental Technologies Inc. (OTCQB: BNET) has developed a patented and proven technology platform that provides advanced waste treatment and resource recovery for large-scale livestock production facilities. Not only does the technology dramatically reduce the environmental impacts of livestock production, but this modular technology platform also improves the economics to these livestock production businesses.   While focused on the US market, Bion’s technology can potentially be applied to large scale livestock farming around the world.

NAI Interactive Ltd. spoke with Bion Environmental Technologies to share some updates on the industry and Bion’s business strategy.

1) With large scale livestock farming becoming more prevalent in today’s market, what environmental problems have been caused by these practices?

Large scale livestock farming is one of the largest sources of pollution in the world. There are 20 billion chickens, 1.4 billion cattle and 1 billion pigs in the world. Most of these animals are in China and the U.S. Their waste/manure is spread on farms as fertilizer but most of it escapes to the air and water as pollution. Water poisoned by toxic algae blooms and dead zones (where no fish, crabs or shrimp can live) is now among the biggest water pollution problems in the world. Livestock waste runoff also contaminates drinking water. Pathogens in raw manure used to fertilize crops cause deadly foodborne illnesses and resistance to antibiotics that is now a global crisis. Livestock waste is one of the largest sources of greenhouses gases and climate change. Air pollution from livestock waste also contributes to acid rain and the smog that chokes the skies in China.

    

2) What are the costs to taxpayers and potentially shareholders of agriculture conglomerates as a result of the environmental problems caused by factory farming?

As pollution from upstream agriculture has increased, taxpayers are spending more money downstream to clean up the mess. In the U.S., water treatment costs have gone from $40 billion per year a decade ago to over $110 billion in 2010. And the environmental problems are getting worse. In the Chesapeake Bay alone (near Washington, D.C.) it will cost $30 billion to $50 billion to clean up the water. The costs to clean up the Great Lakes and Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico (other large U.S. watersheds) will be much higher. Worldwide costs will be in the trillions of dollars.

The ONLY way to solve this problem is to clean up the largest source of the pollution: livestock waste. If the livestock industry does not clean it up on its own, governments and their own consumers will force them. Bion’s technology is valuable because it can clean up the problem AND it creates new value from the manure waste that helps offset the costs.

Front end of the system

3) Where does Bion Environmental Technologies fit in the current system of food production?  What problems can your technologies solve?

Bion’s technology almost eliminates the air and water pollution from large scale livestock production. It is a cost-effective way to clean up livestock waste for large scale facilities. In the U.S. today more than 70% of livestock are housed on large scale farms. Stopping the pollution from these large farms can eliminate the toxic algae blooms, dead zones and other environmental problems from livestock production without having to clean up the small farms, which would be much more expensive. With over 2B poultry, 90M cattle and 60M swine in the U.S., it also represents a very large market for Bion projects. Most countries, including China, are already moving away from small farms and toward large scale livestock production. They have the opportunity to build new state-of-the-art facilities, such as Bion can develop, during this transition.

The technology also creates new value to the farmer by recycling the energy and other assets it recovers from the manure. Bion’s waste treatment process is closely controlled and monitored – like municipal wastewater treatment – and it is verified independently. Verification will allow a U.S. farmer to put a brand on his products that say they are ‘safe’ and ‘sustainable’ – and that brand will be certified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Similar brands can be developed in other countries. Bion is the only company with a technology that can do this today.

  

Bion’s technology platform

4) How will Bion’s environmental solution translate into a profitable business model?  What are the potential revenue streams and where can shareholders look to see value growth?

Bion’s patented and proprietary technology creates new value and revenues from 1) pollution clean-up, 2) high value organic fertilizer and animal feed products, 3) renewable energy, and 4) a USDA-certified sustainable brand. In the U.S., it will only require two of these revenue streams to be profitable.

We expect value growth will come very soon, as institutional investors understand that livestock waste cleanup is inevitable and appreciate how big the market is for Bion’s proven technology. Bion has already established relationships with some of the largest livestock producers in the U.S. and the world. More value will come as Bion begins to develop very large projects with these partners.

5) What is Bion’s client acquisition strategy?  Given that your potential US customers are large scale farms, what approach does your company use to create strategic relationships with them?

Bion’s business model is to form strategic partnerships with select livestock producers. Bion already has relationships with some of the largest producers in the U.S. and the world. Our objective is to convert 5% of the U.S. market (over the next 3-5 years) of existing chickens (egg layers), pigs, and beef cattle, into modern facilities that produce premium sustainable-branded products, where a small increase in price translates to a large increase in profits. This would produce more than $500 million in revenues.

Bion’s strategic relationships will be limited to a small number of livestock producers – we believe we already ‘know’ them. For example, our planned Kreider Farms poultry project ALONE represents more than half of 5% of the egg market. Bion also has strong relationships with JBS (the largest producer of pork and beef products in the world) and National Milk, Dairy Farmers of America and Land O’Lakes (that represent most of the U.S. dairy industry) through the Coalition for Affordable Bay Solutions, a Pennsylvania advocacy group to support low cost clean water solutions from the private sector.

Bion installed its 2nd generation technology platform at the 1,200 cow Kreider Dairy Farm in 2010

6) Recent reports have shown that Chinese hog farmers are on a building spree, constructing huge modern farms to capture a bigger share of the world’s biggest pork market.  How do you think Bion’s technology can apply to the ever expanding Chinese markets?

Bion has been focused on developing opportunities in the U.S., which itself is a very large and untapped market. However, with 4.7B chickens and 451M pigs, China represents an even larger opportunity. China has recently recognized the environmental impacts of its current production levels and is developing policies to reduce those impacts. Further expansion will require the types of environmental treatment Bion can supply. Chinese citizens are also worried about the safety of food products produced in China.

We believe an initial entry into the Chinese markets would be through the U.S. production of safe- and sustainable-branded products (certified by USDA) that would be exported to Chinese markets. A strategic relationship with a Chinese partner could potentially be created to utilize Bion’s technologies for production in China, with similar safety assurances. Bion will begin to actively investigate such opportunities during 2018.

7) Bion has been around for more than 20 years. Why do you think now is the ‘right time’?

Toxic algae blooms, dead zones, polluted drinking water and other environmental problems have reached crisis levels in the U.S. Several studies have been completed recently that clearly show that livestock waste IS one of the largest sources and the only way to solve this problem is to clean it up at the source. Bion predicted these conclusions 20 years ago. We were right. The livestock industry has recently begun to support Bion’s efforts to change policy to help pay for cleaning it up, which will also save taxpayer money. There is now legislation in U.S. Congress and the state of Pennsylvania (where policies are being developed) that will help pay for technologies like Bion’s. It’s not ‘going to happen’. It is already happening now.

UPDATE: On October 17, legislation supported by Bion was approved in the Pennsylvania Senate Environmental Resources Committee, where it will now go to the full Senate. The bill was passed 10-2.

This material includes forward-looking statements based on Bion management’s current reasonable business expectations. In this document, the words ‘if adopted’, ‘expect’, ‘will’, ‘proposed’ and similar expressions identify certain forward-looking statements. These statements are made in reliance on the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, Section 27A of the Securities act of 1933, as amended. There are numerous risks and uncertainties that could result in actual results differing materially from expected outcomes.”

Company Contact:

Craig Scott
Director of Communications
Bion Environmental Technologies Inc.
303-843-6191
[email protected]

NAI500 Contact:

Henry Wong
Account Executive
NAI Interactive Ltd.
604-488-8878
[email protected]

 

Disclaimer: NAI is being compensated for this article. Material contained in this article is for information purposes only and is not intended to constitute an offering of securities in any jurisdiction. Nothing on this article should be construed as an offer, solicitation or recommendation to buy or sell products or securities.

Agriculture Clean Technology Technology