Verified Michigan biomass feedstock.
Procurement-ready supply, county by county.

A locally-aggregated agricultural residue supply for Michigan-sited data centers.

Michigan's lower peninsula produces roughly 2.06 million acres of corn and 2.02 million acres of soybeans annually. The majority of harvest residue — corn stover, bean trash, wheat straw — is currently disked back into the field. A sustainable portion of this material (typically 30–50% removable depending on soil type) represents an annual, locally-sourced biomass feedstock pool measured in the high six figures of tons within a 100-mile radius of every announced Michigan data center site.

Michigan Farm Waste Exchange aggregates this supply at the farm level and matches it to operators, EPCs, and biomass processors who need verifiable, low-carbon process inputs for cooling-system support, on-site combined heat and power, or scope-3 ESG reporting. We do not bale, haul, or process. We hold the relationships, the data, and the contracts.

This document is a procurement reference, not marketing material. Sections 3 through 6 describe what we can supply today, what we are still building, and the contracting model under which we engage. Section 7 discloses what we will not claim until we have audit-grade data behind it.

Three reasons Michigan-sourced residue belongs on your scope-3 disclosure.

1. Locality. Every announced Michigan hyperscale data center site is within 100 miles of significant corn-stover-producing acreage. Greenville (our base) sits roughly 60 miles north-northwest of Lyon Township and 90 miles northwest of Saline Township. Lake Odessa, our second pilot, is 60 miles from Saline directly. Average feedstock haul distances for participating buyers should range from 30–80 miles.

2. Sustainability documentation. Sourcing agricultural residue at sustainable removal rates avoids the soil-depletion arguments that complicate purpose-grown energy crops. It also avoids the deforestation arguments that complicate wood pellet imports from the southeastern US ^[2]. The carbon accounting is favorable: corn stover absorbed CO₂ during the growing season; residue that decays anaerobically in-field releases CH₄ (≈80× more potent than CO₂ over 20 years) ^[3]. Captured residue is a net win on both gases.

3. Political license to operate. The Michigan data center debate is publicly contested in 2026. The Michigan Attorney General has intervened in the DTE/Stargate power contract case ^[4]. Residents in Saline and Lyon Townships have organized. Procurement narratives that include verified local-farmer participation directly address the loudest objection — that data centers extract from rural Michigan without giving back. A farmer-paid feedstock chain is the cleanest answer available to that objection.

Types, volumes & harvest windows

Pilot footprint and announced data center proximity

MFWE's enrollment is starting in two pilot zones in West Michigan, both selected for high corn density and reasonable haul distance to announced data center sites:

Both zones sit inside the realistic biomass haul radius for combined heat and power applications (generally 50–100 miles, beyond which pelletizing and densification become economically necessary). Expansion priority counties — Kent, Ottawa, Allegan, Eaton, Calhoun — extend the network deeper into the announced data center corridor running from Ann Arbor west toward Lansing and Grand Rapids.

What you'll get for your scope-3 reporting.

Hyperscale operators face growing pressure on Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE), Carbon Usage Effectiveness (CUE), and increasingly granular scope-3 supply chain disclosure. We're building the documentation chain to feed those reporting frameworks:

• Per-farm source documentation. Every feedstock ton matched through MFWE will originate from a named, addressable Michigan farm with confirmed sustainable removal practices.
• Removal-rate compliance. Listing forms require farmers to confirm intended removal rate; we recommend default thresholds aligned with USDA-ARS guidance ^[5].
• Methane avoidance accounting. Captured residue that does not decay anaerobically in-field represents avoided CH₄ emissions — quantifiable per the EPA's emissions factor for agricultural residue management ^[3].
• Local labor & community impact statements. County-level participation data, farmer income statements, and verified residency — material for community-benefit agreements and permit hearings.

How operators work with us

MFWE is positioned as an introduction and aggregation layer, not a logistics or processing company. Our role today is to connect buyers to verified farmers and to provide the documentation chain that supports ESG and procurement reporting. We do not bale, haul, store, or process feedstock — those services are arranged between the buyer and existing regional contractors, on terms the buyer controls.

Engagement options:

• Pilot phase introduction (current default, no fee). We provide warm introductions to enrolled farmers in your sourcing radius, share farm-level supply data under NDA, and support initial contract conversations. No transaction fee in pilot phase.
• Per-transaction connection fee (post-pilot). Once the network reaches sufficient density (target: 50+ enrolled farms across pilot zones), we will charge a flat per-transaction connection fee on facilitated deals. Pricing TBD; targeted at well below typical broker percentages.
• Documentation & reporting subscription (forward). Annual subscription for operators needing recurring ESG documentation, removal-rate audits, and community-impact reporting. Pricing on application.
• Custom logistics layer (forward). If/when MFWE expands into baling, hauling, and storage coordination, those services will be priced separately on a per-ton basis. Not currently available.

Standard engagement under any option includes a mutual NDA and a non-circumvention clause covering 18 months from introduction date. This protects both sides: farmers don't get cherry-picked out of the network, and operators don't get poached by competing buyers we've introduced them to.

What we won't claim — and what could go wrong.

If you're a procurement or diligence professional, you've read documents like this before. Most of them oversell. Here's what's actually true about Michigan Farm Waste Exchange in May 2026:

• We have zero signed offtake contracts today. Public website live; farmer enrollment underway; no completed feedstock transactions yet.
• Enrolled farmer count is small and growing. Specific numbers available under NDA. We will not inflate this figure publicly or privately.
• Volume forecasts are agronomic, not contracted. The acreage and yield numbers in §3 reflect Michigan's overall production base, not signed inventory.
• Logistics is not our service. Baling capacity, trucking, and storage are all third-party arrangements. We can introduce you to local providers but we are not them.
• We are a Michigan LLC, not a regulated commodities broker. All transactions are between buyer and seller; MFWE is not a counterparty.

The investment thesis we're working from is that the residue supply chain in Michigan needs an aggregator, and that the political and ESG environment in 2026 specifically rewards local, transparent, farmer-paid sourcing. We think we can be that aggregator. We don't claim to be it yet.

Let's start a conversation before your next hearing.