Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Iowa farmers receive energy demonstration grants

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May 21, 2010

CEDAR FALLS – The Iowa Farm Energy Working Group has awarded $15,000 in demonstration grants to eight Iowa farmers to demonstrate how they will meet their energy needs through energy efficiency or the use of renewable energy sources on their farms.

The University of Northern Iowa Center for Energy and Environmental Education (CEEE) facilitates the working group with the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT). The working group is funded by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University.

"This is the working group's second round of demonstration grants to help Iowa farmers on small to mid-sized operations show other farmers how they can reduce their energy use," said Kamyar Enshayan, working group leader and CEEE director. "We are supporting a wide range of technologies on a variety of farms across the state." Each grant is for about $2,000. All recipients will provide some type of field day or other way to show others their results.

A grant to Sandra and Mark Ehrhardt who milk 65 cows on their 535-acre farm near Monona (Clayton County) will help them update to a robotic system that will provide water savings of 75 percent and electrical savings of 15-20 percent. They will receive funding to collect water and electrical usage data on the robotic system, analyze the data, and develop an information packet for other farmers.

Dennis and Deb Smith, owners of D&D Ag in Paton (Greene County), will replace LP furnaces with electric air-to-air heat exchangers and one air-to-water exchanger to heat/cool 5,600 feet of greenhouse space to raise certified organic heirloom tomatoes. They will collect data for one year and anticipate using 75 percent less LP gas and 50 percent less electricity.

The Homestead, an organization that provides services for children and adults with autism, will conduct a thorough feasibility study to develop a matrix of renewable energy sources to show advantages/disadvantages, costs, effects, and applications to minimally heat a greenhouse during winter months to grow transplants, seedlings, and food in the off-season.

Melvyn Houser in western Iowa (Pottawattamie County) will conduct a wind and a solar photovoltaic assessment for his farm, calculate average yearly electrical usage, and determine which systems are best for his site to become more energy independent. He will obtain other funding to purchase and install equipment. In a similar project, Jack Bensink of Marion County has already purchased a 10 kW wind turbine and 2 kW of solar PV panels. His grant will be used to install the systems and collect monthly data hopefully to show that the two systems together can produce enough energy to make his farm as energy independent as possible.

Tom Frantzen and his son James received a grant to have detailed energy flow analyses done on their farms. Tom's 300-acre diversified farm will have the energy analysis of all inputs and outputs measured to determine the most energy-efficient way to supplement a geothermal heating system by burning corn cobs from the farm. James Frantzen is starting a small hog farrowing operation and wants to determine the most energy-efficient way to heat, ventilate, and/or cool five farm buildings before they are renovated.

Finally, three Iowa farmers near Creston (Union County) with diverse farms and conservation experiences will grow test plots of potential biomass grasses with different cover crops. They will determine the biomass yield of each grass to provide renewable energy feed stocks that sustain soil resources and enhance ecological services. Native prairie grasses will be compared with a perennial non-native grass with the potential for a high biomass yield. 

For more info contact:

Carole Yates at carole.yates@uni.edu 

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