When it comes to paperwork, Utah farmers and ranchers are failing, and it's costing them thousands of dollars in federal money that could help them be more energy efficient.
While their national counterparts are collecting millions from grants for renewable-energy projects, state farmers and ranchers are sending off incomplete applications. As many as 90 percent of the grants from Utah are rejected because technical details are faulty or the farmers simply don't understand the questions.
"Sometimes it seems like farmers and ranchers totally ignore what the application asks for," said Roger Koon, a specialist with the Rural Development Office in Salt Lake City. "It can be [daunting], but if they'll go step by step and take their time, they can do what's required."
Beyond being able (or willing) to follow directions, Utah farmers and ranchers also are behind the curve in their low number of applications, said Misty Conrad, technical assistance program manager for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., which does grant technical reviews.
"These grants are for tried-and-true technology that cuts energy costs," she said. "Utah has a number of fantastic opportunities to get help. We'd love to see more applications coming out of the state."
The U.S. Department of Agriculture provides grants and loans to farmers who want to develop renewable-energy or energy-efficiency projects, covering up to 75 percent of the cost. But in Utah, only 10 percent to 20 percent of the applications submitted are accepted. Projects can include wind towers, refurbishing old hydroelectric equipment or installing solar panels to take advantage of Utah's most abundant energy source.
To add insult to pain, for years Utah farmers have been struggling to make ends meet. Most have day jobs to supplement their incomes, and as choice farmlands are plowed under for housing developments, farmers are being pushed out to marginal lands.
A savings of any kind helps the bottom line, and one of the areas their counterparts in other parts of the country rely on is being more energy efficient. Koon calls the drop in gasoline prices only a temporary reprieve from agriculture's high energy costs, and energy experts say there is no magic bullet that will end the nation's dependence on foreign oil.
So, a variety of renewable sources probably will be part of the answer to America's energy problems, according to Tom Potter of the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project and other conservationists.
But running counter to this notion is the Utah Farm Bureau, with its 21,000 members, which insists that the nation must exploit its own oil and coal stocks for the foreseeable future. Because farm leaders aren't convinced there is such a phenomenon as global warming, they see no need to press for wide use of renewable fuels that in their minds may be decades away from being a cost-effective alternative to coal and oil.
"There are those in the media …who claim consensus -- 'that man's activities are the cause of global warming," wrote Farm Bureau CEO Randy Parker in the group's December newsletter. Parker said this claim is based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, whose members are "promoting parochial political agendas."
Time at state farm conventions is spent assailing global warming assertions -- leaving it up to individual farmers to develop alternative strategies on their own. The political debate aside, high energy costs probably will require farmers to retool their infrastructure, and with it the infrastructure of the nation's food supply.
This isn't the first time farmers have been forced to confront change. In the 1970s, U.S. producers switched from gasoline to diesel-powered farm equipment. And today, in the face of tight operating margins, some farmers are embracing energy conservation.
"I got the message more than 30 years ago that I needed to do everything I could to make my farm energy efficient," said Sevier County alfalfa grower Eric Tuft. "If our nation had done the same thing, we wouldn't have gotten ourselves in this mess."
Tuft, 58, began changing his operation in 1973, during the Arab embargo. About the same time, Utah Power & Light increased its rates, eventually tripling costs for Tuft's 100 horsepower irrigation pump.
Neither the oil consortium nor his local utility company "showed any mercy," he said.
Tuft attended energy workshops, read books and later surfed the Internet. He began by investing in a gravity-based irrigation system and low-pressure sprinklers. If he hadn't replaced his old irrigation pump, he'd be paying utility bills of $3,000 to $4,000 each month.
He also went to newer, no-till farming methods and recycled crankcase oil to heat the barn. Today, his farm power bills are about $200 a month.
About three years ago, Tuft began making his own bio -diesel when a cousin opened a Winger's restaurant in Richfield. Tuft collected the used soybean vegetable oils and experimented to get the right formula.
Biodiesel, which performs similarly to petrodiesel, can be produced from virtually any kind of vegetable oil -- new or used. The U.S. Department of Energy says that U.S. restaurants produce as much as 5 billion gallons of waste vegetable oil each year.
Tuft mixes his biodiesel with petroleum-based diesel, using a 4-to-1 ratio. His production costs are about 40 cents a gallon -- and when petrodiesel went up to $4 per gallon or more, each time he filled up the 100-gallon tank on his hay cutter, he saved $72.
And, yes, the exhaust smells a little like french fries.
Utah farmers could make steps toward fuel self-sufficiency for the 11 million gallons of diesel they burn each year by growing their own oil-seed crops. They could plant safflower, which could be used as a rotation crop on dry (non-irrigated) wheat farms, as well as camelina, canola or sunflower, said David Drake, Sevier County Extension agent. And after extracting the oils, the seed mill byproduct could be fed to livestock.
Drake visits farms and fairs to demonstrate equipment that can be purchased for less than $10,000 to produce low-pollution, sustainable biodiesel fuels. The simple contraption consists of a seed press and two reactor tanks.
Existing technology also can cut energy costs substantially.
Moroni Feed Co., owner of the Norbest turkey brand, took advantage of financial assistance and technical advice from Rocky Mountain Power to install a computer-controlled refrigeration system and a high-efficiency evaporative condenser with variable speed fan control in its processing plant in Moroni. In addition to saving nearly $80,000 per year in energy costs, the farm cooperative also received incentives of $230,000 to help pay for the upgrades.
On individual operations, farmers are advised to conserve energy in small ways before getting into more complex technologies. They can start by replacing incandescent lights with compact fluorescent bulbs. For larger operations, LED (light-emitting diode) bulbs are the next-generation option. A single spotlight costs up to $45 but uses 90 percent less energy than an incandescent bulb and when turned on for eight hours each day can last up to 17 years, said Jeff Dunn, with Blue Star Lighting, a wholesale distributor in Salt Lake City.
"The math shows great savings just in replacement costs alone," he said.
