Renewable Energy Is Focus of MFU Tour
Missouri Farmers Union recently conducted meetings and a tour in northeast Missouri that focused on renewable energy and its potential markets.
Meetings were held at Macon and Monroe City. MFU leaders and members also visited the George Keller Farm the POET ethanol facility near Macon where the group toured the facility and received an update on the ethanol business.
Wind energy, renewable fuels such as biodiesel and ethanol, biomass for power generation, methane from livestock facilities, and solar power all hold potential for new income on Missouri farms, according to Richard Oswald, MFU president, Langdon. “The Energy Bill that will soon be taken up in Congress holds great potential for all our grain and livestock farms,” he said. “Opportunities like this happen only rarely. Missouri Farmers Union feels this is a chance for jobs, investment, and new markets all wrapped into one. The best hope we have to make it happen is if voters from our rural areas call or write their Representatives and Senators in Congress to let them know we want clean energy for national security, for local jobs, and for all the good things it will do for rural Missouri and its citizens.”
State Senator Wes Shoemyer along with State Representatives Tom Shively and Paul Quinn accompanied several MFU board members and president Richard Oswald on the tour.
“Renewable energy can play a big part in making America energy independent now that 60% of the oil we use here is imported from foreign suppliers,” Oswald added. “MFU recognizes that not only do we all have a patriotic responsibility to help keep our nation strong, we also have the opportunity to create wealth in the countryside by expanding all sources of renewable energy available across Missouri.”
