Starting in late 2022 we began placing used 275- and 330-gallon totes with small farms in Beaver County on consignment — the farmer uses the tote, pays us the wholesale price if it works out, returns it if not. The program ran for 18 months with four participating operations. Here's what we learned.
What the totes were used for
- Farm 1 (dairy, 64 cows): livestock water supplementation in the west pasture where the county line cuts off municipal water access. Four totes, refilled every 10-14 days by trailer.
- Farm 2 (diversified produce, 11 acres): drip irrigation header tanks. Six totes, plumbed to a low-pressure line with gravity feed.
- Farm 3 (orchard, apples and pears): emergency frost spray storage. Two totes, used maybe three nights a year.
- Farm 4 (flower market and herbs): slow-drip irrigation on raised beds. Three totes, with soaker hoses.
The three questions every farmer asked
- Will this tote leach anything into my water? Not if it's properly sourced. We provided food-grade reconditioned totes only for this program. Prior contents were verified and documented. The answer is no, with paperwork.
- Will it freeze and crack? A full HDPE tote can handle freezing as long as there's about 10% headspace for expansion. Fill to the bottom of the fill-cap threads, not all the way up. A frozen tote held at -10°F for three days at Farm 1 in January 2023 was fine.
- What do I do when the cage rusts? Brush off the rust, paint the affected area with a zinc-rich primer, and move on. We told farmers not to worry about surface rust until they see a weld compromised.
The one failure
Farm 3 lost a tote to UV degradation — it sat in direct sun for 18 months in a spot we should have put a cover over, and the HDPE started to chalk and lose strength. The tote ruptured during a routine fill in April 2024. We replaced it for free and added “UV protection for totes in direct sun” to our new-customer handout. HDPE is not a permanent sun exposure material. It wants shade or a wrap.
The tote works for agriculture. The assumptions don't always. Cover it, fill with headspace, and pay attention to the cage after the third year.
Outcome
Three of the four farms kept and paid for the totes. Farm 4 returned their three after a season — the soaker hose plumbing didn't fit their workflow — and we took them back without fuss. That refund was worth more in word-of-mouth than the totes themselves. Beaver County farms are a tight network, and being the yard that takes a return without argument compounds over time.