Across the US, a new kind of farming and ranching is coming of age. It combines renewable energy with traditional farming needs for production and harvesting. Whether it’s to cut down on the cost of inputs — be they fuel, fertilizer or feed — increase yields, enhance overall sustainability, adapt to changing weather patterns, or reduce waste, emissions and effluents, farmers and ranchers around the US are looking to embed renewable power and fuel technology into their operations and these are some of the ways they’re doing it.
Renewable Energy on US Farms
The number of solar panels, wind turbines, and methane digesters on America’s farms and ranches has increased significantly over the past decade, according to the results of a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) survey released on February 23, 2011.
Some 8,569 farming and ranching operations are producing their own renewable energy, according to the “2009 On-Farm Renewable Energy Production Survey.” Conducted by the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service as a follow-up to the most recent Census of Agriculture, this survey provides the first nationwide look at renewable energy practices on America’s farms and ranches.
- Solar panels were the most popular means farmers used to produce their own energy. A total of 7,968 farming operations nationwide reported using photovoltaic and thermal solar panels in 2009.
- A total 1,420 farms across 48 state reported using wind turbines.
- The use of methane digesters was reported by 121 operations in 29 states.
Accounting for nearly 1/4 of the overall total, California lead the nation with 1,956 farming/ranching operations producing renewable energy. Colorado, Hawaii, and Texas were the other major states where farmers and ranchers on at least 500 or more agricultural operations were producing their own renewable energy.
Biofuels & Farms: Moving Beyond Corn-based Ethanol
With generous support and incentives from the federal government, farmers and ranchers have been at the forefront of developing the US corn-based ethanol and biodiesel industries and markets. These have been scrutinized and criticized for their effect on food prices, their net effect on greenhouse gas emissions, and their overall environmental sustainability.
While corn-based ethanol production still dominates the renewable energy landscape on many US farms and ranches, particularly large-scale farms in the Midwest, renewable energy projects on agricultural land around the country are moving well past production of first generation, corn-based ethanol and biodiesel.
Given the shortcomings of first-generation corn-based ethanol, a nationwide drive is on to produce second- and third-generation alternative biofuels that rely on biomass and produce much less in the way of CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions, won’t take away from food production, and could serve to enhance overall environmental, as well as economic, sustainability.
On Sept. 23, 2011, the US Dept. of Energy announced a $105 million loan guarantee to help finance construction of one of nation’s first cellulosic ethanol biorefineries. Dubbed Project LIBERTY and sponsored by POET, the country’s largest ethanol producer, corn crop ‘residue,’ — corncobs, leaves and husks — will be used to generate enough bio-gas to power the plant’s operations, as well as supply feedstock for producing as much as 25 million gallons of ethanol a year.
POET plans to use the same integrated design and technology at all its 27 grain ethanol plants, which would bring their combined annual capacity to 1 billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol per year.
The US has the potential to supply 1.3 billion dry tons of biomass from agriculture and forestry by 2030. One billion tons of that total could be produced by US farms, according to a USDA study, cited by the Heinrich Boell Foundation in its “Beyond Biofuels” research report.
Accomplishing this without disrupting stock supplies of food and fiber would require some significant changes to the make-up of US agriculture and current farming practices, however, the Boell report’s authors note. This would include collecting up to 75% of agricultural residue for bioenergy, adding 55 million acres of land to energy crop production, and achieving a 50% increase in yield from current potential energy crops, such as corn and wheat.
Reducing Waste, Releasing Energy
Initiatives that go even further towards building more environmentally healthy and integrated closed-loop sorts of systems encompassing energy, agricultural production and resource conservation are afoot on US farms large and small.
Farmers are increasingly viewing things they have typically viewed simply as waste as potentially valuable feedstock for producing organic products that they can use to enhance the environmental and economic sustainability of their operations, as well as to produce cleaner, renewable fuels and electrical power.
As high-tech turned sustainable agriculture angel investor and serial entrepreneur Ali Partovi wrote in an April guest post on TechCrunch, “Via ‘new’ techniques it should be possible for the food and agriculture sector not only to reduce its own emissions, but also to offset emissions from other sectors by removing carbon from the atmosphere.
“(I say ‘new’ because in many cases the solution involves a return to nature-based, less industrial processes.) More importantly, it should be possible to make money and improve the environment because the current system is inefficient and wasteful, leaving enormous room to move the needle by eliminating waste.”
A growing number of farmers are recycling livestock waste to produce methane bio-gas for heating and generating electrical power, for instance, and they’re composting plant waste and turning it into bio-char to produce organic soil enhancements that help sustain the productivity of their farmland.
In North Carolina, an “open source” Duke Energy and Duke University project on the 9,000-head Lloyd Ray hog finishing farm recently attracted support and an investment from Google.
Their $1.2 million “open source” prototype system, built mostly with off-the-shelf equipment, is designed to serve as a model for hog farmers aiming to better manage waste, reduce GHGs and find a clean, renewable means of generating cheap electric power.
Up and running for almost three years, it’s been generating enough electricity to power 35 homes. The prototype system also avoids the release into the atmosphere of nearly 5,000 metric tons of CO2 per year, the equivalent of taking 900 cars off the road.
Solar & Wind Power
Farmers are also turning to solar and wind power to meet their electrical power needs, both individually and collectively.
Electrical power isn’t always readily available at more than 25,000 farms and ranches across rural New Mexico. Where practicable, windmills were traditionally used at such sites. Today, affordable and lightweight solar panels are being used in their place.
Farmers and ranchers in New Mexico are learning how they can use solar panels to supply the electrical power needed to pump water up from wells, thanks to an initiative being carried out faculty and students at New Mexico State University’s College of Engineering and the Cooperative Extension Service.
“The depth of water in the state is all over the scale, anywhere from 10 to 1,000 feet,” explained Craig Runyan, an Extension Plant Services associate. “Four hundred feet is pushing the limit for solar, but technology is catching up fast. There are a lot of wells 600 to 700 feet deep on the eastern side of the state. It’s not unreasonable for a conventional windmill to lift water down 700 feet, but it takes quite a while. It really depends on how much flow you need.”
And while large-scale wind farms continue to sprout up across the US, much of it on rural land, individual farmers and farmers’ co-ops are contributing to the growing demand for small-scale wind turbines, particularly in the wind-rich Midwest.
“Vast amounts of farmland in the US provide an opportunity for farmers to either own, or host wind farms,” the Boell report research team found.
A 2001 study by the US Department of Energy estimated that if 5 percent of US electricity was from wind power by 2020, the rural, agricultural area of the US would receive $60 billion in capital investment, $1.2 billion in new income for rural landowners and farmers; and 80,000 new jobs,” they noted.
USDA’s REAP
The USDA’s Rural Energy for America Program, REAP, is playing a large role in promoting and fostering the use of renewable energy systems on US farms and ranches.
REAP grants and loans provide “gap” financing for rural small businesses and agricultural producers to purchase and install or improve renewable energy systems and make energy efficiency improvements. Rather than making the loans directly, bank lenders apply to REAP for loan guarantees.
REAP guaranteed loan can finance up to 75% of total project costs for renewable energy systems of energy efficiency improvements. The guaranteed loan may be combined with a REAP grant, for up to 25% of the project cost, but total REAP assistance cannot exceed 75% of the total project cost.
On Sept. 16, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that that more than 500 agricultural producers and small rural businesses across the US will benefit from more than $27 million worth of REAP federal grants and loan guarantees in the most recent round of awards.
“This funding is an important part of the Obama Administration’s plan to help the nation’s farmers, agricultural producers and rural small businesses conserve natural resources, create more green jobs and lead us on the path to becoming an energy independent nation,” Vilsack said. “These projects are in addition to the more than 900 renewable energy and energy efficiency projects recently announced during the President’s Rural Economic Forum.”
The Ripple Effect
Sustaining and increasing crop yields and food production in the face of changing weather patterns and climate, conserving energy and natural resources, reducing environmental pollutants, enhancing efficiency and profitability are all increasingly being seen as parts of one big puzzle. Like a jigsaw puzzle, all the parts are connected, and the picture isn’t complete without having and putting together all the pieces.
One of the great things about all the initiatives that aim to integrate renewable energy technology into farming operations is the ripple effect they are creating in social and environmental, as well as economic, terms. Innovations made in one aspect of a farm’s operations lead to innovation and improvements in associated activities.
Animal and plant waste can be turned into biogas, biofuels and electricity. The by-products can be used to produce agricultural products that help maintain and rehabilitate soils, as well as produce intermediate goods that can be used in manufacturing and industrial processes, all of which also helps conserve natural resources and enhances the quality of our air, land and water.
There’s a lot more that can be done, but the potential is there. Taken together, such efforts are helping lead society toward a more ecologically healthy and economically sustainable future of food production.
