For generations, large-scale beef producers have treated livestock manure as an unavoidable operational headache, an environmental liability that requires constant, costly management. However, a nearly $300 million project in central Nebraska is completely rewriting the economic playbook for American agriculture.
On August 26, 2026, Neogenyx Fuels and Adams Land & Cattle officially broke ground on a massive, state-of-the-art agricultural renewable natural gas (RNG) facility in Broken Bow, Nebraska. By successfully capturing the methane emitted from cattle waste and converting it into pipeline-quality fuel, the partnership is proving that the modern feedlot can be a highly lucrative, closed-loop energy asset. The project was covered by Drovers and announced via Ameresco.
Redefining the Feedlot | Inside the $300 Million Project
The family-owned Adams Land & Cattle operation, which began as a modest dairy farm in 1945, has grown into one of the most forward-thinking agricultural enterprises in the country. To prepare for this transition into the energy sector, the company initiated a massive three-year overhaul of its south feedlot in 2025, upgrading the pens with roller-compacted concrete (RCC) to efficiently collect waste from up to 150,400 head of cattle.
The sheer scale of the resulting RNG infrastructure, which was first announced in May 2026, is unprecedented for a single feedlot operation. The facility utilizes eight massive anaerobic digesters to process the daily manure output from the concrete pens. These digesters will capture and generate more than 4,400 standard cubic feet per minute (SCFM) of raw biogas. Once the raw gas is processed and upgraded, the plant will yield approximately 1.2 million MMBtu of pipeline-quality renewable natural gas every year, the energy equivalent of roughly 10.5 million gallons of standard gasoline.
Instead of a one-way waste stream, the system creates a profitable circular economy. After the methane is extracted inside the digesters, the remaining liquid and solid digestate is not discarded. It is recovered and beneficially reused on-site as nutrient-rich organic fertilizer and clean livestock bedding, closing the loop on what was once considered waste.
A Massive Climate Mitigation Strategy
Beyond the impressive energy yields, the Broken Bow facility represents a monumental victory for greenhouse gas reduction. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, with a warming potential roughly 25 times greater than carbon dioxide over a 100-year period. By actively capturing this methane before it can escape into the atmosphere, the Neogenyx Fuels facility is expected to prevent up to 63,700 metric tons of CO2-equivalent emissions every single year.
To put that environmental impact into perspective, avoiding that volume of emissions is equivalent to the carbon sequestered by roughly 63,800 acres of US forestland in a single year. Abram Babcock, CEO of Adams Land & Cattle, noted that the facility allows the company to build on its day-to-day operations while delivering environmental and economic benefits close to home.
The project represents a growing trend in agricultural energy production, where livestock operations are increasingly viewed not as environmental liabilities but as renewable energy feedstock suppliers. This shift mirrors broader developments in scientific research and space exploration where waste streams are being reimagined as valuable resources.
Fueling the Global Supply Chain from Rural America
While the RNG produced at the feedlot will be injected directly into the local natural gas grid, its ultimate destination could be much further away. The developers have designed this project with an eye toward the massive, emerging global market for alternative maritime fuels. The international shipping sector is under intense regulatory pressure to decarbonize its fleets, and the pipeline-quality RNG produced in rural Nebraska has a direct, viable pathway to be liquefied into Bio-LNG (liquefied biomethane).
This means that a cargo vessel transporting goods across the Pacific Ocean could soon be powered by fuel generated from cattle manure in the American Midwest. According to Michael Bakas, CEO of Neogenyx Fuels, this dynamic positions domestic agriculture as the next major domestic export engine. By linking a local, family-owned feedlot to international energy and shipping markets, the Adams Land & Cattle project proves that environmental stewardship and bottom-line profitability do not have to be mutually exclusive.
As Wall Street and energy developers increasingly look for reliable streams of organic feedstock, the American feedlot is suddenly looking like a highly valuable energy asset. The project also highlights the potential for rural economic development and the role of agricultural innovation in addressing climate challenges, themes that resonate across the broader energy infrastructure landscape.
Frequently Asked Questions
As Abram Babcock, CEO of Adams Land & Cattle, stated: "This facility allows us to build on our day-to-day operations while delivering environmental and economic benefits close to home." In an era when the energy transition demands creative solutions, the answer may be found not in a silicon valley lab, but in the heart of a Nebraska cattle feedlot.