Photo courtesy of American Biogas Council
A new report by the American Biogas Council shows the number of U.S. farms capturing biogas has more than doubled the past five years.
Patrick Serfass is executive director of the council and says the data indicates farmers are seeking additional revenue opportunities that are also sustainable.
“And maybe even displace some of their fertilizer and fossil fuel costs. Maybe even displace some of their heating costs for keeping barns warm for their animals.”
Biogas is a source of energy created by recycling organic waste like manure and food scraps.
He states that over 630 farms now operate biogas capture systems.
“More and more farmers are realizing ‘well this makes a lot of sense for me.’ So, it’s really been spreading in part by policy and in part by word of mouth throughout the agriculture industry because it provides so many benefits to farmers.”
Serfass says dairy farms account for the majority of farm-based biogas capture systems at nearly 80 percent, followed by hog farms. More than a quarter are located in California, followed by Wisconsin at nine percent.
EDITOR’S TAKE:
Decades ago, back in the day, I traveled to Taiwan for a conference on economic cooperation and development. As part of the experience, we visited port facilities, manufacturing companies and, for a few of us, a large pork production facility. Part of the facility was experimenting with bio-gas/methane capture and use. Even back then it was used to generate electricity and, interestingly, power a vehicle. Now, with newer technologies, larger scale use is becoming possible. It appears that it will expand if it makes economic sense. In the case of the Taiwan experiment, it was far from scalable at the time. Now things are much different….
Have you ever thought about what in your dealership might be a prospect for expansion? Perhaps your parts and service departments? Are you giving business away to auto parts stores or local oil change companies? What about a mobile unit if you don’t have one already. Go to the farm/ranch customer to do their routine maintenance. Sign an annual or even a longer-term agreement that locks in that customer. It helps them free up some time for other higher priority needs. Plus, it provides you with an opportunity to capture more business. Why not consider what you can do to expand your reach with farmers/ranchers in your area?
