It was around two in the morning, and I was still reading a book about New York’s food scene—Food and the City by Ina Yalof. The book was published nearly a decade ago, but the stories inside really drew me in.

One story in particular caught my attention: Douglas Corwin and the Crescent Duck Farm. Around 1873, a few ducks from China made their way across the ocean to the States. “Corwin, a fourth-generation duck farmer, was born and raised on Long Island, on land once cared for by his great-grandfather, grandfather, and father—and where he now raises his own children, along with over a million ducks each year.”

I’ve always been fascinated by managers and brands—especially stories like this, where a family business has been passed down through four generations. I looked up the farm’s official website and found a beautifully designed page with pictures of delicious Crescent Ducks. I jotted down some notes and didn’t dig further at the time.

But then I got to a paragraph that described their operation as a large-scale facility:

“We hatch flocks twice a week. And there are thousands in every flock. And every one of those thousands wants to eat… Then you have to factor in the fact that we’re always building something new here. We recently put up a $3 million waste treatment plant. We compost all of the solid waste we screen off…”

$3 million. That’s no small number. And the mention of waste treatment brought back some old memories. I thought I’d look into it a bit more and maybe even send the company an email to ask what kind of equipment they use.

I started searching online for resources on agricultural waste management. It’s a little different from the kind of industrial wastewater management I’m familiar with, but it still mentioned some of the same machines—solid-liquid separators, screw conveyors or pumps, and screening equipment. But as for the power and capacity of these machines, I wasn’t sure.

Then, while trying to search the company again, a news headline from January popped up: Long Island’s Last Duck Farm Weighs Closure After Outbreak Kills Entire Flock | Food Manufacturing

Oops! It reminds me about the egg price during the February.

But then, shortly after, I found another piece of news from April: Crescent Duck Farm working to rebuild flock

This gave me renewed hope for their future. Feeling encouraged, I’ll jot this down in my diary and call it a night.