here's an idea for the green new deal- help farmers re-electrify rural america.

[mopinko]

so, when that draft of the green new deal made the rounds, and everyone started stockpiling cheeseburgers, and drawing up plans for their govt home remodeling, msnbc had the good sense to track down the facts about cow farts and climate change.

first off, it's not the farts, its the belching. and there is good research underway to find better feeds that fix that.

but second, as we all know, it is manure and cafo runoff that are killing our waterways.

perhaps some of you have noticed that i have an obsession w 2 particularly glaringly stupid environment nightmares that have, imho, simple solutions.
one is coal ash, which is a mineral mine laying around waiting for someone to get rich on.
the other is manure. pig shit in particular, but manure in general.

a fairly simple anaerobic digester system makes free methane in a bottle.
the sludge that comes out at the end is far more useful as a fertilizer than raw manure. put it in a bag, and make a good buck w your green fertilizer.
such obvious low hanging fruit.

so, the msnbc spot was-
talking to a couple huge dairy farmers in iowa. got the facts about part one.

then this- the entire small town there was powered by electricity from a single dairy farm.

the barns were piped up so that the manure was automatically pumped into the digester.
the whole set up cost $20M.
it made sense for this farmer to invest in that system. so should the tax payers.

this is my pet theory, but there is plenty of good stuff down this same road.
like, how about the green new deal gives green farmers low interest loans and grants of "seed money" for green innovations to agriculture.
how about transition funds for organic farms?
how about increased conservation easements?
how about more wind and solar subsidies? (how about solar for rural schools and hospitals?)

seems like all these things are rich in opportunities for rural economies.

talk about reaching out to the rural voters. (i know, i know, they are crazies. but there are dems out there everywhere, and this could show everyone what we are made of in a way that pokes the dummies in the eye.)

[SWBTATTReg]

1. Some very good suggestions...w/ the wind and solar, of course the fossil fuel industry would...

fight on this and in some states, they've limited the amount they pay for excess solar and/or wind energy generated to cost only (that is brought by the dominant power company), so very prohibitive. I like your suggestions ... seem very reasonable, doable, and wondered what 'conservation easements' are?

Thanks...nt

[mopinko]

4. conservation easements are a quaint old notion

of leaving a little nature to nature, and not planting corn from fencerow to fencerow.
we used to give farmers a decent tax credit to do that. sr ronnie kicked the legs out of that, when commodities were high, and it made more sense to farmers to spend than to save w some silly conservation thing if they werent getting paid.

no real reason why they cant produce something tho. lots of farmers used walnut for tree breaks. got a crop, and when they got big enough, they were high priced hardwood.
they could be launching pads for permaculture.
they could certainly be hugelkultur, which is great for irrigation/water control. basically build a dam out of trees, wherever you need it, to keep water either out or in, and in a decade or so you have a huge pile of perfect soil, both newly made and saved from erosion.
they could be part of a long range plan toward a more sustainable agriculture. like planting a food forest around your corn.

the farmer ecologists out there are showing the way. monoculture is gonna die. i dont think there is a big question about that. in the end, permaculture is more profitable.
the question is how to lead and aid the "prophets" our there.

[SWBTATTReg]

5. Ah...just leaving the ground fallow/don't plow. Good suggestion too, as it allows the ...

ground to recover from rigorous plantings and such. I also believe in leaving brush piles when clearing land of debris, for the critters (quail, and such) when I owned my little farm/ranch in the Ozarks. I know that in the Missouri Conservation magazine, they advocate leaving ground fallow / don't plow, and leave some excess crops for the birds etc. Good suggestions too. I agree w/ you that monoculture is going to die out, as the excesses of monoculture (corn, wheat etc., cost of fertilizer/etc.) become more and more apparent.

Thanks and take care!

[monmouth4]

2. I'm surprised we haven't heard more from John Tester about plans like this for farms. n/t

[mopinko]

3. well, john digs coal.

i like him. i have no idea how much he leans into the industry out the, but it is saving their bacon.