Energy Problems and Farmers 

The current energy crisis, including the possibility of blackouts, could be devastating for farmers and ranchers. 

Case Van Steyn runs a family dairy in Elk Grove in southern Sacramento County.  He also raises as many crops as he can, including corn and alfalfa to feed his seven hundred and fifty cows.  While farming is never easy, the worst thing he’s had to face up to now has been low milk prices, now, the idea of electrical blackouts keeps him awake at night. 

“Blackouts are so foreign and hard to understand, or imagine what could happen or what will happen. It’s very unnerving,” explains Case. 

Rather than sit and worry about the situation Van Steyn took some expensive, but necessary steps several months ago to try to get ahead of the crisis. Back in December Van Steyn bought a used generator for ten thousand dollars. If he’d had to buy a new one it would have set him back $30,000.  In today’s world of mechanized farming, cows rely on electricity to drive the machines that bring them food and water as well as get them milked. 

His concern over this energy crisis extends from his cows to newly planted cornfields. Case says he can’t afford enough generators to keep the water pumps going and he could lose crops. 

Meanwhile, rolling blackouts this summer could be a life or death proposition for millions of California chickens. 

“If we have blackouts that shuts down our wells, we have no water to cool the birds during the summer,” says one California chicken rancher. 

Poultry producers say their birds are by far the most susceptible of all farm animals to the effects of rolling blackouts since they require a constant flow of chilled, fan-blown air to cool them and allow them to breathe. If the power should fail on a hot day, chickens could suffocate almost as soon as air stops circulating. 

Farmers throughout the state are already doing their best to conserve energy where they can by doing things like recycling water and using feed for fertilizer.