Resources: Interviews
Dr. Heather Darby, Field Crops & Nutrient Management Specialist, University of Vermont Extension
Can energy crops be grown in Vermont? That’s the question that University of Vermont Extension agronomist Dr. Heather Darby has been attempting to answer over the past few years. Dr. Darby’s intimate knowledge of agriculture in Vermont—she grew up on a dairy farm and runs her own farm in Alburgh—makes her the ‘go-to’ person for many farmers considering growing energy crops such as canola. The moral of the story, according to Dr. Darby, is that “growing a new crop requires patience, learning, and experimentation.” Dr. Darby recently discussed her work with VSJF.
VSJF: What changes have you seen over the past three years, especially in terms of energy crop production?
Heather Darby: Well, it’s still really in its infancy, as far as who is actually growing oil crops or even biomass crops. I would say there’s more interest than there is actual production. So, I would say just in the last two years is where we’ve really seen people become interested in producing their own fuel.
VSJF: So do you think that’s the main reason—on-farm production for on-farm use—or have you heard of other issues or reasons driving interest in energy crops in Vermont?
HD: Well, primarily because I work with farmers, in most cases it’s the fact that their fuel bills are out of sight. And so the thought that they might be able to produce their own fuel has been of interest to a lot of farmers. On the other hand, there are a number of farmers that are looking for ways to diversify and this has come up as an option. I think there’s probably interest for both of these reasons.
VSJF: Would you say you’ve been getting more calls over the past two years regarding energy crops?
HD: Oh definitely! Yes, I would say it’s increased probably 90 percent. There’s a huge increase.
VSJF: You’ve done crop trials in a few different places. What have you found out through these crop trial results?
HD: I’ve worked with sunflower, canola, flax, and soybeans, pretty much the major crops that are grown for biofuels. You’re able to grow them all in Vermont, there’s no doubt about that, but for some of the crops we’re still in our infancy. There’s a lot to learn still. For farmers to take on new crops they usually want to know some of the basic things, and they’ll try it themselves if there’s not too much risk involved, but in some cases there’s new equipment needed. In order to make that kind of investment they need to know that they will be able to make a profit.
VSJF: Are you responsible for doing the upfront research for farmers?
HD: Yeah. I mean, it’s up to me what direction I go with the research I do, but if that’s a need of the farmers then that’s what I’ll do. And it has been, so we are focusing on it.
VSJF: What crops in particular seem promising?
HD: I would say canola seems the most promising right now because it grows really well in the area and it seems fairly easy to harvest. A lot of the farmers know how to grow soybeans here but the oil production isn’t as high. So it doesn’t really make as much sense.
VSJF: You’ve also done several field days or open houses, what have these gatherings been like?
HD: Well there’s been a ton of people. The response is huge. We’ve held three or four workshops with some emphasis on energy, but regardless of what we’re talking about, if energy is involved we have a huge turnout. No less than 60 farmers at any of the workshops. And that’s a lot, actually, usually you get 20-25, but with these particular workshops we’ve even seen over 100 people. There is a lot of interest.
VSJF: Is UVM developing more staff capacity to deal with this?
HD: There’s definitely talk that there’s a need out there. The need right now, I think, is more on the processing/engineering side. Certainly we could always use more agronomists because it’s hard for me to cover the whole state and do outreach and research and all these different things. It would certainly be good to bump up the number of field people, but also people that can deal with some of these other issues as well, like the processing end of it. It’s an interest of people here.
VSJF: What are some of the remaining challenges that Vermont needs to address in the years ahead to increase on-farm energy production?
HD: What we’re doing right now is figuring out how it fits in, first of all. There’s no doubt that production type issues like growing the crops can be overcome. We know the crops grow here, now it’s just teaching farmers and overcoming a few of the barriers such as harvesting and storage. What we really need to know is whether it makes economic sense on the farm. That’s the data that we’re trying to collect from State Line Farm. Before we can really start going out there and really telling farmers this is what they should do, we need to have some real data showing that it makes sense to do this. That’s what we’re doing now- building that dataset.
VSJF: Are there any new tools or capacities that Vermont farmers need to develop in order to expand the production of energy crops?
HD: Yeah, the infrastructure to do it is probably going to be the primary thing. Infrastructure meaning not just the facility to produce the biofuel but the machinery they need to grow the crops. There’s some specialty machinery like a combine, for example, and then storage and cleaning the seeds, all of those kinds of things. The infrastructure can be pretty expensive. In order for a farmer to invest in that kind of infrastructure, new infrastructure in many cases, we have to make sure that it would work economically. There’s a lot of education as well. Farmers that really want to do it are out there learning.
VSJF: Is there anything unique or different about the farmers--State Line Farm and Rainville Farm--that are pursuing energy crop production?
HD: One thing is that both farms have sold their dairy cows. But both are really interested in farming still, and also concerned about energy costs on farms. So, probably a bigger thing is that they have more time to focus on it versus a dairy farm that’s already overwhelmed with the day-to-day operations. Thinking about taking on this whole new enterprise, for a lot of farms, would be pretty daunting. So I think that’s one unique thing about both of those farms- they like growing crops. And I know that they both really care about the ag industry and have seen the price of fuel go up and really want to take a role in addressing that for farmers. They’re willing to put their necks out and try this.
VSJF: What are you optimistic about? Where do you see Vermont’s biofuels sector going in the next several years?
HD: The State Line model is really exciting to me. Hopefully we’ll be able to expand that up at the Rainville farm in Alburgh so that we have two demonstration sites and we can collect the data that we need to really give the farmers the ‘yes’ or ‘no’ that they need. And that’s what I think is exciting, we’re actually moving forward on that. I think it’s better for us to take the risk to start with then to get all our farmers doing something. I think we have to be careful not to give them the notion that this is going to make you a million dollars. But, the exciting thing is the interest that people have in this, the fact that they want to make changes, want to be more fuel independent, and hopefully that energy will stay. I’m sure these things will just keep moving forward. There are lots of pieces that play into the success of this program. So, cooperation, making sure people work together, and sending this message to farmers is key.
Photo credit: Wayne Fawbush
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