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Energy related inputs make up as much as 60 percent of total operating expenses on the average farm, indirectly in the form of fertilizer and pesticide, as well as directly from fuel, lube and electricity.
“Energy can have a big impact on your bottom line,” said Cary Weiner, a Colorado State University clean energy specialist who was one of several speakers at a recent ag energy expo held in Northeast Colorado.
Weiner is collaborating with 15 additional faculty members as co-director for CSU’s new Center for Agricultural Energy, a joint project of CSU Extension and the CSU College of Engineering. With funding from the Colorado Department of Agriculture, the center is piloting comprehensive ag energy audits on eight farm operations across the state, developing an assessment process that can help farmers and ranchers identify savings and make their farms more energy efficient.
In addition, the center is conducting research on small hydro and solar power, anaerobic digesters at dairies and other livestock facilities, and biofuels made from oilseed crops.
Challenges ahead for irrigated agriculture
In Northeastern Colorado, energy use for irrigation is a primary concern.
In the United States, $2.2 billion went toward irrigation pumping expenses in 2008; even just a 5 percent increase in energy prices would add another $111 million to that figure.
Due to new regulations, rate increases are likely and could soar as high as 30 to 40 percent, according to Dennis Herman, manager of member and corporate services for Highline Electric Association of Holyoke, who spoke at the expo.
“It behooves consumers to know what is affecting their energy prices,” he said. “And speak your mind in one way or another about it.”
Environmental regulations tend to target coal-based energy, which makes up about 70 percent of all electricity generated in the Tri-State system that supplies power to rural electric cooperatives in parts of Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska and New Mexico.
Meanwhile, groundwater levels are slowly receding, at the rate of one to two feet every 20 years, according to regional CSU water resources specialist Joel Schneekloth, who consults on pump system installation and maintenance.
Steps farmers take to make sure their pumps are operating at optimal efficiency, including pulling the pumps routinely and inspecting them, save energy but also potentially impact water use. Many high-tech monitoring systems are now available at a relatively low cost to make sure farmers apply only the water the crop needs, he said.
“You can generally save a lot of water early and late in the season,” he observed. “We need to reduce the time we are pumping water and conserve our pumps and our water.”
Trent Bushner, a farmer and Yuma County commissioner who attended the expo, said pursuing energy savings had merit but that farmers have done a good job of keeping up with the times. “Most of my neighbors have changed how they do business,” he said. “Farmers don’t just punch a button and walk away anymore.”
However, there are some stubborn economic challenges to improving irrigation systems, he added.
Landowners who lease out their ground often don’t have an incentive to invest in new systems, he said. “It only impacts the landowner when they finally become less competitive from a rental standpoint,” he said.
And for the farmer who rents land, as Bushner does, he can’t afford to make those investments himself when his lease contract only extends over a few years. “Everything out here is cash rent,” he added, meaning landowners and farmers don’t share input costs.
He noted that when the local courthouse in Yuma put in new energy efficient windows, the payback from energy savings extended out over 84 years. The county had to replace them anyway and had the money in their budget, but he says it shows that some investments are so cost-heavy upfront they take more than a lifetime to pencil out.
Energy related inputs make up as much as 60 percent of total operating expenses on the average farm, indirectly in the form of fertilizer and pesticide, as well as directly from fuel, lube and electricity.
“Energy can have a big impact on your bottom line,” said Cary Weiner, a Colorado State University clean energy specialist who was one of several speakers at a recent ag energy expo held in Northeast Colorado.
Weiner is collaborating with 15 additional faculty members as co-director for CSU’s new Center for Agricultural Energy, a joint project of CSU Extension and the CSU College of Engineering. With funding from the Colorado Department of Agriculture, the center is piloting comprehensive ag energy audits on eight farm operations across the state, developing an assessment process that can help farmers and ranchers identify savings and make their farms more energy efficient.
In addition, the center is conducting research on small hydro and solar power, anaerobic digesters at dairies and other livestock facilities, and biofuels made from oilseed crops.
Challenges ahead for irrigated agriculture
In Northeastern Colorado, energy use for irrigation is a primary concern.
In the United States, $2.2 billion went toward irrigation pumping expenses in 2008; even just a 5 percent increase in energy prices would add another $111 million to that figure.
Due to new regulations, rate increases are likely and could soar as high as 30 to 40 percent, according to Dennis Herman, manager of member and corporate services for Highline Electric Association of Holyoke, who spoke at the expo.
“It behooves consumers to know what is affecting their energy prices,” he said. “And speak your mind in one way or another about it.”
Environmental regulations tend to target coal-based energy, which makes up about 70 percent of all electricity generated in the Tri-State system that supplies power to rural electric cooperatives in parts of Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska and New Mexico.
Meanwhile, groundwater levels are slowly receding, at the rate of one to two feet every 20 years, according to regional CSU water resources specialist Joel Schneekloth, who consults on pump system installation and maintenance.
Steps farmers take to make sure their pumps are operating at optimal efficiency, including pulling the pumps routinely and inspecting them, save energy but also potentially impact water use. Many high-tech monitoring systems are now available at a relatively low cost to make sure farmers apply only the water the crop needs, he said.
“You can generally save a lot of water early and late in the season,” he observed. “We need to reduce the time we are pumping water and conserve our pumps and our water.”
Trent Bushner, a farmer and Yuma County commissioner who attended the expo, said pursuing energy savings had merit but that farmers have done a good job of keeping up with the times. “Most of my neighbors have changed how they do business,” he said. “Farmers don’t just punch a button and walk away anymore.”
However, there are some stubborn economic challenges to improving irrigation systems, he added.
Landowners who lease out their ground often don’t have an incentive to invest in new systems, he said. “It only impacts the landowner when they finally become less competitive from a rental standpoint,” he said.
And for the farmer who rents land, as Bushner does, he can’t afford to make those investments himself when his lease contract only extends over a few years. “Everything out here is cash rent,” he added, meaning landowners and farmers don’t share input costs.
He noted that when the local courthouse in Yuma put in new energy efficient windows, the payback from energy savings extended out over 84 years. The county had to replace them anyway and had the money in their budget, but he says it shows that some investments are so cost-heavy upfront they take more than a lifetime to pencil out.
Incentive programs out there
Federal resources are available to help farmers improve their systems and to finance energy audits.
Mike Kostrzewa, a CSU mechanical engineer with more than 20 years experience conducting industrial audits, said at the expo while energy use on farms accounts for only about 1 percent of the country’s total and has been declining since the 1970s, expenditures are still going up. “Costs are the big driver here,” Kostrzewa said.
Some federal assistance programs such as REAP (which stands for Renewable Energy and Ag Efficiency Program) require applicants to undergo an energy audit.
REAP is a four-year program that has already funded five energy efficiency improvement projects in Northeast Colorado, according to Cheryl Scofield, area director for the USDA’s Rural Development agency. Funds have been used to equip a fifth generation hardware store with solar power, assisted a nonprofit with providing solar-generated power to a school and helped one farmer switch to a more efficient irrigation system, she said.
Another federal program, EQIP, provides cost-share assistance for conservation practices and activities that fall under a farm’s agricultural energy management plan. During the past year, EQIP allocated funding for approximately 1,000 on-farm energy audit evaluations in 29 states.
The revamped Conservation Security Program — now called the Conservation Stewardship Program — includes some funding for qualified energy savings activities, according to Gary Campfield, Natural Resources Conservation Service district conservationist.
An ag energy audit involves filling out a questionnaire, participating in a one- to two- hour conference call with an engineer and eventually hosting at least one on-site inspection, Kostrzewa said. The center is training more specialists for conducting future audits.
More meetings ahead
The work of the new Center for Ag Energy will get prime billing at five more workshops and meetings around the state in the coming year. A full-day workshop is planned Jan. 31 in Wellington, with the focus on the dairy industry.
One highlight of that meeting will be a closer look at anaerobic digesters. Few are in use in Colorado, and Weiner said they don’t work as well in drier climates compared to more humid conditions further east because the waste lagoons release less gas. Still, the concept could prove to have application in certain situations regionally.
Weiner also has an appearance scheduled at the Arkansas Valley Farm, Ranch and Water Symposium Feb. 2 in Rocky Ford.
More information on the outreach schedule and activities of the center is available online at www.cae.colostate.edu.
