ABSTRACT
The agriculture industry is crucially dependent on fossil fuels for efficient production of food and fiber. Rising fuel costs and dependence of the United States on foreign oil are critical factors for U.S. agriculture and other segments of our economy and make energy independence an urgent but difficult goal. Significant amounts of energy are used in the postharvest processing of crops. It is estimated that about 3.3 x 109 MJ of fossil fuel energy is used in the United States for this phase of crop agriculture (1). Grain drying in the United States requires the equivalent of 15 million barrels of crude oil per year, most of which is in the form of propane and natural gas. Crop drying is a very energy-intensive farm operation. The onthe-farm energy use for crop drying in the United States is estimated to be 7.3 x 1010 MJ (2). As world demand for efficient food production and processing increases due to growing population, limited resources, and emphasis on keeping our environment clean, alternative sources of energy for on-the-farm use need to be developed and substituted for the more expensive and increasingly scarce fossil fuels.
