Success Stories for Iowa
Iowans tap energy grants for grain drying and wind generation: When Bonnie Vos learned about a new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) grant to help farmers reduce their energy use, she rushed to complete the application before the 3 week deadline.
Vos and her husband, Donald, wanted to upgrade a 40 year -old grain-drying facility on their Oskaloosa farm with more efficient equipment. The USDA awarded $12,250 to the project last summer.
"My husband was not very supportive of this grant-writing thing. He said it was a big waste of time," said Vos, who spoke at an Iowa Rural Development Council Meeting this winter. "I will let you know that I did make sure he realized when we got the grant who did all the work for it."
Iowa farmers will once again have an opportunity to apply for funding under the USDA's renewable energy and energy efficiency improvement program. The USDA is expected to again announce the application requirements and deadlines for the $23 million grant program.
The program, also known as Section 9006 under the 2002 farm bill, offers grants and guarantees loans to help farmers and rural business build renewable energy systems or purchase energy-efficient equipment.
In 2004, seven Iowa projects received about $420,000 in funding.
Brothers, Dean and Scotty Tjaden, received a $45,540 grant to set up a wind generator on their farm near Charles City.
The grant helped offset the $205,000 construction costs for their 450 kilowatt generator, previously used on a California wind farm. "We built a contract hog finishing facility in 2001, and one of the variables that you have in an operation like that is your cost of energy -LP gas and electricity," Dean said. "We saw this (wind generator) as an opportunity to lock in some of our energy costs."
Grant Eligibility: The USDA's grant program offers funding to farmers and rural business that build renewable energy systems, including wind, solar, biomass or geothermal projects.
Grants are also available for projects that improve the energy efficiency of farming and business operations. However, farmers cannot use the funds to make energy improvements to their homes.
"Energy efficiency improvements can be a wide array of things, from insulation to more efficient lighting to new ventilation systems," explained Teresa Bomhoff, with the USDA -Rural Development office in Des Moines.
The USDA grants pay up to 25 percent of the project costs. Eligible applicants can receive up to $250,000 in energy efficiency improvement grants or up to $500,000 in renewable energy system grants. The minimum grant amount is $2,500.
In addition, the USDA will offer guaranteed loans for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. The loans will fund up to 50 percent of the costs, with a maximum loan of $10 million.
Immediate savings: Bonnie and Donald Vos used the USDA grant to replace their two 3,000 bushel grain bins and 24-inch drying fan, built in the 1960's with a new grain drying facility that's double in size.
"It was a wonderful year for us to put in a new structure," Vos said. "It was an exceptionally good year for harvest, and our yields were up for both corn and beans.
Last fall the Voses were able to dry about 70,000 bushels of corn with their new grain-drying facility. She estimated that the updated equipment saved their farm $16,739 in LP gas costs, or about 21.7 cents per bushel, compared to their old system.
"I know this seems like an unrealistic figure, but with LP costs at all-time highs, and with the large crop in Iowa, it would have been impossible to dry that many bushels through our old facility," Vos said.
There is also the time factor to consider. It took seven days to dry just 3,000 bushels in our old facility. It would have taken us 23 weeks to dry 70,000 bushels, or half the year," she added.
Bomhoft said Iowa farmers can receive help in applying for the grants by contacting their USDA-Rural Development area director in the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Iowa State University Extension and the Iowa Ag Innovation Center.
However, Bomhoff cautioned that farmers will have a short 60 to 90 day window to submit the applications once the USDA announces the grant requirements.
May 2005