The researchers at Cornell have developed a few economic models regarding waste management for different purposes and also targeting different users.

Co-digestion Economic Analysis

This is a model designed to help evaluate the economics when people installing anaerobic digester on farm, particularly to use dairy manure and food waste for co-digestion. This economic model is based on field/case studies of farm-based AD systems in Northeast region. This tool might be helpful to users such as owners of large-scale CAFOs and companies or contractors who are specialized in planning and desgining on-farm anaerobic digestion application.

Financial Analysis Model

This is a downloadable Excel spreadsheet model to assist dairy producers in analyzing the economics of applying one or more manure management technologies. Inputs are required for each of the selected technologies. Outputs include three years of pro-forma financials including income statements, cash flow statements, and balance sheets. This model was developed as part of the Economic and Environmental Manure Solutions project of the New York Ag Innovation Center which provides financial analysis and business planning assistance to NY dairy farmers intending to implement manure management projects.

Co-Composter Model

This is an Excel spreadsheet model for the planning of co-composting systems for mixtures of dairy manure and other organic wastes. It was developed by Cornell's Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering and Waste Management Institute. This model provides mass and volume balances, area estimations, and a cost analysis of alternate composting systems based on inputs entered by the user.