On a recent visit to www.producer.com I was interested to read a story on an Ethelton-area grain farm where a rather extensive array of solar panels had been installed.
鈥淭he family say two lines of solar panels have reduced their quarterly electricity bill to $40 from $1,200,鈥� begins the story.
That is a rather significant drop in ongoing costs to be sure.
And yes, for the immediate naysayers reading this, there are the initial installation costs to factor in, and maintenance, and probably some insurance since hail and high winds are a summer threat in Saskatchewan, but the lower regular costs still make the project something to think about.
There are costs to farming, and most costs the farmer has zero ability to do anything about. You might haggle on the value of a trade-in when buying a new tractor, and you can buy fertilizer early to get a deal, but the 鈥榙eal鈥� is still determined by the seller.
That is not to suggest farming is unique in having limited ways to affect their costs, but of course they have a corresponding limitation on determining the price of what they sell too. It can be a squeeze for sure.
But, moving forward, perhaps even today, farmers can take some control of their energy costs.
There are now several technologies available that can generate on-farm energy and help disconnect at least somewhat from the grid.
It might be as simple as a grain burner to heat the shop in the winter, consuming that low grade or damaged grain as an energy resource. There may even be value in growing a high yield, low valued grain just for the burner if the numbers are crunched the right way.
Then there are the bigger projects, solar panels, wind mills and geothermal that all hold possibilities.
On the Ethelton farm the solar panels obviously have had benefit.
At the same time there have been smaller windmills installed that sit unused too, testament to them not 小蓝视频 particularly successful.
Yet, in terms of technologies, the landscape changes literally overnight.
There is no doubt a windmill or a solar panel is more efficient and more likely to do what it is supposed to today, than even a half dozen years ago, and the tech will continue to evolve.
Certainly through the current pandemic energy prices have been held more, or less in check, and so there is perhaps less focus on options.
But, one might imagine when the pandemic ends and the world economy fully ramps up again, energy prices might well jump with the renewed demand.
So keeping an eye on alternatives, penciling out the returns versus the costs, might be a good use of time this winter for at least some producers.
Calvin Daniels is Editor with Yorkton This Week.
