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Going "Green" on the farm does not have to be difficult or break your piggy bank. Follow these 10 easy and environmentally friendly "going green" ideas. Help Leave a smaller carbon footprint for our future generations.

Install a Methane Digester to treat waste water and solids on your farm. It will process your animals waste through anaerobic conditions creating methane gas. The Methane Digester will reduce the production of both solids and treated liquids on your farm. You can choose to either sell the methane you have produced or use it yourself to create your own electricity. The liquid can be applied as a fertilizer with low pathogens and plant rich nutrients.

Begin Conservation Tillage when you cultivate your crops. Conservation Tillage will limit your soils erosion. When residues are left on fields it leads to minimal water erosion. Soil tillage helps to reduce air pollution. Water quality is improved. Less tractors are needed, which leads to lower fuel and labor costs.

Lease your land to Wind Mill farmers or become a Wind Mill farmer yourself. You could use the power generated by the wind turbine yourself or sell it to the electric company. Wind farmers may offer to pay you one upfront lease payment or often times royalties from wind turbines are around 3000 dollars a year.

Switch to grass feeding your beef livestock. Healthy cows are grass fed. Cows that are grass fed are hormone and antibiotic free. Grass fed cows have not been shown to suffer from mad cow disease(BSE) because they only consume foraged material and are free from acid resistant forms of E. Coli. E. Coli is a very serious food Bourne bacteria. When this form of E. Coli hits the U.S. food chain consumers can become seriously ill and have even died.

Every farm needs hot water whether for cleanup, feeding calves, or cow prep. A heat recovery system recovers wasted heat from your milk cooling condensing unit. Cost savings will be made in your production. This then should increase your profitability.

While milking think about installing a variable speed vacuum pump. The pump will help to reduce your energy consumption 30 to 60% and decrease noise pollution in your parlor.

Begin Crop Rotations. The rotation of your crops ensures nutrient rich soil. Each crop has a different demand on the soil. Not planting the same crop year after year in the same field ensures that excessive demands are not made on your fields. Crop rotation helps to naturally eradicate weeds, insects, and diseases your crops might otherwise be susceptible to.

Replace your energy draining regular bulb with an energy efficient compact fluorescent bulb.

Families are going greener, many communities are starting farmers markets. Sell your crops at your local Farmer's market.

Use solar energy to run your Drip Irrigation System. There are advantages to Drip Irrigation. You can adjust exactly how much water each plant receives. Water consumption is decreased up to 50%. You will see a decrease in weeds, plant disease, fertilizer and herbicides usage. A drip irrigation system is easy to install.

If every farm adopts just one of these "green steps," think about how beneficial it will be to our planet. We will leave a much smaller carbon step for future generations. Consumers are beginning to see the benefits of buying locally. Lets all do our part in making our world a better place, it is time to think greener.

Learn more about this author, Elizabeth Blankenship.
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