Farmers Growing Electricity Along With Their Crops

WIMER, Ore. — Vern and Gianaclis Caldwell do a lot of the typical things that make a small farm self-sufficient.

Nigerian dwarf goats stand in their barn Oct. 19, 2009 on Pholia Farm in Wimer, Ore. The goats are...

Nigerian dwarf goats stand in their barn Oct. 19, 2009 on Pholia Farm in Wimer, Ore. The goats are milked with machinery powered by solar panels and a small hydroelectric turbine that runs off a creek. The farm is one of a growing number that operates on renewable energy. (AP Photo/Jeff Barnard)

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Besides the 40-some dwarf Nigerian goats they milk to make artisanal cheeses, they also raise chickens for meat and eggs, a steer for beef, horses to ride and vegetables for the table.

Unlike most small farms, their heat and electricity is entirely home grown. They produce electricity from solar panels when the sun shines, and a micro-hydro turbine when winter rains put water in the creek. Oak and fir cut from the farm fire a boiler that heats the cement floors of the dairy and cheese making room, as well as the hot water to wash the goats and themselves.

"We thought we should be responsible for our own energy," said Vern Caldwell, a retired U.S. Marine Corps aircraft maintenance officer. "So that drove a lot of everything else that we did — where the buildings were placed, how they were placed, taking advantage of passive solar, how we were going to heat, how we were going to cool. All those issues then got driven by this one decision to be off the grid."

Pholia Farm is unusual in the degree to which it is energy self-sufficient.

But more farms are installing renewable energy, said Stephanie Page, renewable energy specialist for the Oregon Department of Agriculture. The motivation was sparked by the 2008 spike in fuel prices, and is being fanned by a range of grants and tax credits handed out by state, federal and private agencies.

"As they exhaust energy efficiency projects on their farms, then they are starting to look more at renewable energy," she said.

Just how many remains unclear, but the motivation seems to still be a desire to be green more than the bottom line, despite an increasing array of financial incentives.

No one really knows how many U.S. farms use renewable energy, such as solar photovoltaic panels, hydroelectric generators, and methane digesters. The 2007 Farm Census found 23,451 out of more than 2 million farms — about 1 percent — generated some kind of electricity or energy, but just what that means is unclear. The agency is doing a more detailed count this year.