This very interesting\u00a0 column about clean energy and farmers appeared in a local newspaper this weekend, written by a farmer.\u00a0 It’s an opinion piece with a unique perspective a lot of people don’t think about — how farmers are natural advocates of renewable energy. \u00a0 I don’t agree with the writer’s enthusiasm for switchgrass, but he makes other good points.\u00a0 He’s advocating green jobs, renewable energy,\u00a0 how it will make sense for\u00a0 farmers to transition to cleaner forms of energy.<\/p>\n
Cows and windmills. Photo taken in southern Minnesota by ST.<\/p>\n
Clean energy. That\u2019s some kind of city thing, isn\u2019t it? Nope. Clean energy is a farmer thing.\u00a0 . . .<\/p>\n
Farmers usually have one main source of income: selling the plant or animal products we work so hard to produce.<\/p>\n
Here in Minnesota, that means corn, soybeans, wheat, potatoes, alfalfa, milk, cattle and hogs, to mention just a few.\u00a0 Raising crops and animals is what farmers love, and that\u2019s never going to change.<\/p>\n
But farming is a tough business. And there\u2019s no reason Minnesota farmers can\u2019t enjoy a second, third, or maybe even fourth income stream, grounded in the clean energy economy. Sometimes without increasing costs much, if at all.\u00a0 I\u2019ll start with an example close to my heart. Manure from cattle, hogs or other animals may not look like an income stream. But in the right circumstances, there\u2019s cash in what used to be an unavoidable nuisance.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s why. Animal manure produces methane. There are two things about methane, both of which can translate to money for farmers.\u00a0 First, methane is a fuel \u2014 if you can capture it, you can burn it to generate electricity, for your own farm or beyond.\u00a0 Second, if it\u2019s not burned, methane is a potent pollutant.<\/p>\n
Everyone\u2019s heard about carbon dioxide being a heat-trapping gas. But methane is, too \u2014 except it\u2019s about 25 times more powerful. Which means that, if we can just get the clean energy economy going, people will pay you to keep the methane from going up into the air.<\/p>\n
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So you\u2019re making money twice \u2014 once from producing electricity and again from avoiding methane emissions.<\/p>\n
Full disclosure: I lead a company that works with farmers to figure out if methane capture will work for them.\u00a0 Maybe you don\u2019t have a large animal operation. But your land may be perfect as a site for wind turbines.<\/p>\n
Minnesota ranks ninth among the states in wind energy potential, which means that there are plenty of Minnesota farmers \u2014 especially in the western part of the state \u2014 who could benefit from leasing their land to wind developers.<\/p>\n
Thanks to smart state laws, there are already 60 wind farms in operation across Minnesota. With a strong federal clean energy law, though, many more of our farmers could turn small corners of their land into a year-round cash-producing business.<\/p>\n
Oh, and by the way, those enormous roofs on livestock production [...]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This very interesting\u00a0 column about clean energy and farmers appeared in a local newspaper this weekend, written by a farmer.\u00a0 It’s an opinion piece with a unique perspective a lot of people don’t think about — how farmers are natural … Continue reading