Wind is going to be a big thing in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Wyoming and the Western Dakotas. Farmers are taking a heckuva beating with low commodity prices and drought. Add to that the issue of high energy costs and talk of ending all the farm programs as we now know them and any farmer with a lick of sense knows that he is going to have to make some changes in his operation.
In NW Kansas, where my families farm is located, the traditional crop has been wheat. The land there is as flat as a floor and it is some of the best hard red/white wheat growing country in the World. With modern farming techniques and new hybrid seed stocks the yields in this area have risen from 30 bu/acre in the 1940's to close to 100bu/acre (in a good year). The main thing that hasn't changed is the price the farmers are getting for their wheat. . . during most of the 1940's wheat was bringing $3.50 or more per bushel; now the range of price per bushel for wheat is $2.75 to $3.50. Corn prices are even worse than wheat. In fact some of the corn farmers I know here in Nebraska are using their corn to heat their homes and outbuildings because corn is a cheaper fuel than Natural Gas or propane! A lot of their soybean & Sunflower crop is being converted to Bio-diesel also. Corn is going to the Ethanol plants and bringing a dime a bushel more than the open market is paying.
The folks on the Left & Right coasts are demanding "Green" energy. These greenies, through the E.P.A, have put restrictions on the Nuclear & Coal powered generators that are so restrictive that it now takes ten to 15 years to plan & build a coal fired plant. Hell will freeze over before Nuclear plants generate anymore power than they do currently. The N.I.M.B.Y syndrome has affected the folks who live in the larger urban areas so badly that they will not tolerate things like a little bit of wind noise so there will be very few of these wind generators put into the urban areas close to the places that need them the most. That means that these new wind generating farms will be needing thousands or hundreds of thousands of miles of new cable to deliver that electricity to the areas that will be using it. One helluva large of that new cable will be ACCC I hope.
I am only involved in the operations of our family farm currently as an advisor however all of us involved in the decision making part of operations are looking for NEW ways of adding to the total income that is produced. We all agree that raising crops basically the same way it has been done for the past 100+ years is going to have to come to an end. If you spend anytime in the coffee shops in small farm communities listen to some of the things that are being discussed at tables around you. The next generation of farmers will be some of the best educated, smartest and hardest working group of people this country has ever seen.
CTC plus ACCC and their new wind towers could become a big player in parts of the farm community. I hope in their designs of wind towers etc. they keep in mind products on a scale that would allow farmers to invest in this infrastructure.
Whew the fingers are tired but the mind is still whirling. Maybe later after the fingers feel better I will add more. LOL.
Dennis
