1976-1983 Small Farm Renewable Energy

This is a large collection that helps tell the story of the history of solar and other renewable energy alternatives on Midwest farms during the late 1970s. Roger worked as an agricultural consultant on the Small Farm Energy Project, a 39-month, federally-funded, national research and demonstration project involving 48 small farms in northeast Nebraska.

Statement to the Hearing of the Subcommittee on Energy Conservation and Power Committee on Energy and Commerce | 1983

Excerpt: “Energy is an essential input for agriculture, which uses more petroleum than any other single industry.  It accounts for about three percent of annual energy consumption nationally, equivalent to about 353 million barrels of oil a year.  The energy input into agricultural production has increased fivefold since 1940.  Most of this increase is due to mechanization and extensive use of farm chemicals.” –R. Blobaum

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Book Chapter in “Agriculture as a Producer and Consumer of Energy” – Toward Energy Self-Sufficiency: The Small Farm Energy Project Experience | 1982

Excerpt from: Agriculture as a Producer and Consumer of Energy, Copyright • 1982 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science 3. Toward Energy Self-Sufficiency: The Small Farm Energy Project Experience Roger Blobaum The concept of energy self-sufficiency for American agriculture is receiving increasing attention. Steadily rising farm fuel and electricity costs, which totaled $7.9 billion in 1979, are encouraging farmers to begin moving in that direction (USDA,1980).1 The possibility of supply shortages or interruptions during planting and harvest times provides an added incentive.

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Presention At The Caribbean Renewable Energy Symposium, Kingston, Jamaica – Solar Applications in U.S. Agriculture | 1981

Presented by Roger Blobaum, At Caribbean Renewable Energy Symposium, Kingston, Jamaica, July 28-30, 1981 Although the agricultural production system consumes only about 3 percent of the energy used in the United States, the concept of energy self-sufficiency for agriculture has received a good deal of attention.  Steadily rising energy prices and the possibility of supply interruptions during planting and harvesting periods provide a special incentive for farmers to begin moving in that direction.

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Statement for Joint Hearing to the House and Senate on Energy Conservation & Supply | 1979

Statement Prepared By Roger Blobaum, Principal Investor of the Small Farm Energy Project For Joint Hearing of the House Energy Development & Application Subcommittee and Senate Subcommittee on Energy Conservation & Supply Washington, D.C. April 30, 1979 Mr. Chairman, I am appearing today as the principal investigator of the Small Farm Energy Project, a national research and demonstration project sponsored by the Center for Rural Affairs and funded by the Community Services Administration. The project is assisting 48 full time farm families in northeast Nebraska to adopt a wide range of energy-saving practices and to build their own alternative energy systems.

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Statement to House Agriculture Committee On Energy Saving Innovations Of Small Farmers | 1977

Statement of Roger Blobaum, Roger Blobaum & Associates to the Subcommittee on Family Farms, Rural Development, and Special Studies, House Agriculture Committee, Washington, DC May 24, 1977 Mr. Chairman, I am appearing today as principal investigator of the Small Farm Energy Project, a national research and demonstration project sponsored by the Center for Rural Affairs at Walthill, Nebraska, and funded by the Community Services Administration.  We appreciate this opportunity to discuss our alternative energy project, which involves 50 low-income farm families in Cedar County in northeast Nebraska, and to comment on the prospects for adoption of energy-saving innovations by smaller fulltime farmers.

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