Climate change forces farming innovation

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061021/ap_on_bi_ge/global_warming_business_agriculture_3

DES MOINES, Iowa - Gary Larsen, a 63-year-old grandfather who raises corn and soybeans is among the growing number of farmers concerned with the potential effects of global warming. "We don't know how the world could actually turn out, but doing absolutely nothing and sticking your head in the sand is not an option," said Larsen, who lives near Elk Horn, Iowa.

He has adopted environmentally friendly farming methods and even recently bought a hybrid car.

Hybrids aren't replacing one-ton pickups in mid-America, but many in the agriculture industry are reacting to the potential effects of global warming, developing new technology and farming methods to brace for the possibility of widespread drought and crop-pounding storms.

In the past century, the Earth's surface temperature has risen by about 1 degree Fahrenheit and could climb another 5 to 10 degrees over the next century, according to government officials. The Environmental Protection Agency has blamed human activities for most of the warming over the last 50 years, including the buildup of greenhouse gases that trap heat.

<more>

Especially farmers of crops that produce oils, but then even those that aren't are in "the business" and can probably find cheap feedstock from their neighbors.

Biodiesel for farm use is the best way to used this stuff.

Wood ash is an excellent source of potassium hydroxide, and pyrolysis of wood residues could produce methanol too...

Now if they would use wind turbines to make hydrogen to produce ammonium, and use solar thermal collectors for crop drying, they might be on to something...

Too thermodynamically expensive for the kind of mass consumption we enjoy today.