Acme Farms LLC

Due to larger-than-usual inventory and our desire to reduce the amount of stored Gypsum quickly, we are offering our product at a 25% discount off our normal price of $20.

For the 2026 season, orders of 1000 tons or more will be $15.00 per ton.

Some background on me might be helpful. I am now a 72-year-old hobby farmer, and I have 85 acres, 60 of which family ownership dates back to 1941. My Grandfather, Roy Scott, was the first in Madison County to grow soybeans and continued in the seed business with Indiana Certified Seed for 35 years. He was a 40-year member of the Madison County A.S.C. Committee as a reporter, community committeeman, and county committeeman.
My dad is a Purdue alumnus, and he was the agriculture teacher at Walnut Grove and the State Director of F.F.A. for a year. The Young McDonalds Farm exhibit at the Indiana State Fair, F.F.A. magazine, the F.F.A. Campground, and the FFA Foundtion which he started with his own money. These were just some of Dad's projects. Dad retired as a Chancler and Vice President of Indiana Vocational College, IVY TECH, having helped found the institution. The Sellersburg, IN school was his from scratch. He was also awarded the Society of Sagamores, The Sagamore of the Wabash, in 2024.
This information explains that even though I am now just a hobby farmer, my experience runs deeper. I come from a proud history of trying new things and being stalwarts of the land. A tradition that runs back four generations in my family.
I also have 22 acres of wildlife habitat programs.
I am a small farmer and need additional income. One way I do so is by providing services to home builders and drywall installers. My company removes the drywall scraps from new construction projects. We started in 1997 working for Hamilton County Drywall, but by 1998, I had a truck and clients. I spent 10,000+ per year to dispose of our drywall scraps at a local transfer station. In 1998, I got my first computer and set out to find a cheaper place to dump. That is when I discovered the Ohio University website (link provided below) and the article on using Gypsum as a soil amendment. The article tells you to check with your state environmental agency, so I did. That is when I found out that the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (hereafter referred to as I.D.E.M.) had never heard of recycling drywall as a source of Gypsum. It was not until 2006 that things worked out, and I obtained a license to recycle drywall for use as a soil amendment. You ask how active I am. I farm under the name Acme Farms L.L.C. I do construction cleanup under the D.B.A. Klean King, and we handle drywall recycling under the D.B.A. Roy's Recycling. Roy's Recycling is where Waste Management brings containers from Purdue University's recent building addition. We are the place where many of Indiana's LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) protected drywall scrapes are taken.
Sourcing Gypsum is a separate discussion. The synthetic Gyp from Coal plant stack scrubbing is becoming rare due to the shutdown of coal-fired power plants. Getting clean, usable drywall scraps from construction sites is difficult at best. And so when this opportunity presented itself to source material from the manufacturer's warehouse due to problems with their new computer system, we agreed. We were initially told it would be about 50 loads, which obviously turned out to be more like 150.
Homebuilders resist sourcing building materials. Only the large State-funded projects attempting to be LEED Certified even bother to try.
This will need to change if Indiana is to fill the demand for Gypsum in the future. Indiana has a gypsum mine in Shoals, in the southern part of the State. Shoals closed in the last few years, and as a soil amendment, we believe our recycled drywall is better because it is 7% paper and 93% gypsum. Worms like the paper are the best aerators. While also adding nitrogen through excretion, I believe drywall makes a better soil conditioner than virgin Gypsum. I.D.E.M> made it clear that they would be on board. Still, they are an enforcement agency, not a legislative one, so the push for change would need to come from someone like me. I have spoken to a couple of candidates for office who found the idea of using it as a campaign issue. In bulk, drywall is harmful to the environment because it accumulates and releases sulfur gas, but when used as a soil amendment, it is beneficial.
It has always been believed that storing it under tarps is preferred, but we have found through our own experimentation that tarps accelerate mold growth; they don't prevent it. The best prevention for mold in bulk storage of drywall is to store it in the open, where the wind and sun will kill any mold. Covering the tarp material only creates conditions that encourage mold to grow. Lack of sunlight and airflow keeps the moisture in. By covering the Gypsum, you are creating the same conditions that you create when you bury it in the landfill; it's the same issue.

For more information, see the posts below