Really fantastic news

Far more exciting to me than the money, is turning manure into energy instead of a pollutant. This is really heartening.

One of the major reasons for an animal rights, enviro-nut to dislike the dairy industry is the enormous pollution problem caused by the manure of 500+ cattle on a single dairy farm. Smaller farms have smaller problems, and actually have simpler solutions available, such as composting the manure and making it suitable for sale to gardners.

However, the manure created by a larger herd of cattle can become a severe pollution problem because of the methane gas. I don't know how many times I've read an article bemoaning this fact, and mentioning how nice it would be if only this gas could be somehow put to good use creating energy. It is, after all, methane gas. Poisonous, but also useable to create energy. It seems that, at last, someone has created the necessary technology to do exactly that - transform a dangeous pollutant into a useful energy source.

Wow. That is huge.

There are still problems with the dairy industry, both from an animal rights standpoint and from a human health standpoint - not the least of which is the use of rBGH - but this at least is a step in a positive direction. Now we can but hope dairy farmers will embrace this technology. And why not? It is more money for them!

The major stumbling block I can see is the initial cost and the fact it would take approximately six years for that investment to begin to pay off. Government or private grants or some sort of kind loans that would make this easier to bear would be the next step to make this really attractive to farmers. Hello, financiers? Lobbyists? Anyone interested?

Good eating!