Dairy farmers are generating their own power

That does not seem right, did the government or someone subsidize their power plants. I should add, many people have heard of Saratoga - the place for horse races in upstate NY. Well they built a new ice rink there a few years ago and I was told that they were paid by the Stables at the race track to haul away the horse manure and then they completely powered the ice rink using the methane. Of course they charged people to use the ice rink. Talk about a win-win situation!

I think it is unfair unless these farmers are at the same time getting subsidies for not growing on the land they would be using this to fertilize and then I'm not sure, but it would probably still seem unfair where other people are selling their excess power.

As you might remember, I'm a farmer...I know quite a few farms that do this to help with their energy concerns. I think turning the methane from animal waste products is a great idea. That aside, it costs a LOT of money to get something like this into operation. I think it's totally unfair that some of the cost cannot be recouped by the farmer selling the extra power to the grids. Farming is expensive compared to what you get in return. In the old days, farmers would spread their manure on the fields...think of it as a natural fertilizer that helps the fields. In my area, there is a limit of how often you can do this simple task and it has to be plowed under after distributing it. They worry about run-off water from the fields contaminating streams. It bothers me that they worry more about this natural runoff byproduct more than they do with man-made chemical fertilizers! It seems that the government will be pushing for these manure/methane producing tanks more in the future. In doing so (without some viable way to recoup at least some of the cost)there will be even less actual profit for the farmer. One guy I knew had this kind of a set up by his barn, the methane produced blew up his barn, and not because it was handled wrong! I think it's a terrible injustice that somebody that has wind, turbine, or solar power can sell their extra to the grid system, and not allow farmers to do the same. What should be fair for one should be fair for all. And just a further note here, since this is an 'energy' discussion...everybody's seen the price of meat, veggies, and milk steadily rising, it is NOT going to the farmer, it is going for the cost of shipping. While we who grow it do not get anything extra, it costs us gobs extra in our OWN fuel costs to produce it.

With so many farmers going bankrupt I feel that they should be able to sell any and all excess. Donating it to the power grid is Bullcrap.

That's quite interesting, is there any special reason given for the fact that others who generate power in other ways are allowed to sell it but not that one? It doesn't sound fair to me. However, since I don't what the reason behind it is, I can't really comment until I have a better idea. In any case, I do applaud the ones that generate their own power, maybe the companies wouldn't keep raising their prices as they do if more people did that.. then again maybe they would LOL

That is amazingly unfair and I am surprised no one has made a big deal of it yet. It seems farmers are often getting a bumb deal, but I often feel it is because they do not work together, there are no unions... though this is changing now, thank goodness. I would have thought, with all the stories in the news about climate change, fuel prices and how much farming animals contributes to global warming (much methane) that not only would they be able to sell to the power grid but that the government would be subsidising the set up costs! Of course, that is ignoring the fact that so many governments suffer from short sightedness and have no long term vision.

Hello GardenGerty, It would seem that this legislation banning the farmers from financially benefitting from their methane power production is location specific. Here is a link to a story about a Vermont Dairy Farm that IS selling it's power production to the local power company. "For the Audets, the electricity has created an important new income stream at a time when low wholesale milk prices have squeezed their margin. The utility pays 95 percent of the going New England wholesale power price for electricity from the Audets' generator. In addition, the utility charges customers willing to pay it a 4-cents-per-kilowatt-hour premium for renewable energy and then turns the money over to the Audets." http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,201727,00.html?sPage=fnc.business/energy So, if I was the dairy farmer that was prohibited from profiting from my methane power production, I'd be hammering my state legislature and Public Regulatory Commission. I'd go so far as to call that prohibition ILLEGAL!

That is so very wrong! I think that the farmers have enough costs as it is and get little in return. Then to have to GIVE their power away, that really is terrible. What is fair for one should be fair for all. After reading 'joyful's' response I really feel that it is terrible. If they go to the expense of setting up the necessary operation to turn the manure into power then they should be able to sell it. I do have a few issues with runoff when one spreads manure on a field. I am glad to know that it has to be turned under and that there is a limit. E Coli running into water sources is my concern. I swear, our polititicans are never doing right by farmers. ...I guess they ENJOY being dependent on foreign oil....