I’ve often said over the past two decades that while 40 or 50 miles per gallon is fantastic, you can’t pull a gooseneck with a Prius. However, the hybrid car has gone from novelty to modern standard. Innovation often just requires a well-timed spark and an opportunity to open the door for new ideas.
While these innovations may not be quite ready for the farm today, here are two new concepts to keep an eye on for the future.
ELECTRIC PICKUPS
Hot on the technology front these days are electric vehicles — and now electric pickup trucks are rolling out of factories and likely headed for urban garages. (Read about Rivian.) I’ve noticed they never have these plug-ins pull-ing a nurse tank or seed tender in their commercials or advertisements.
Like the advancements we’ve seen in phones and computers, I’m sure we’ll look back and laugh at how primitive the cutting edge really was in 2021.
BIOMETHANE TRACTORS
Also this month, a food company revealed its own hybrid concept tractor powered by biomethane and electricity. AUGA group is Europe’s largest vertically integrated organic food producer. It decided the best way to lower the car-bon footprint of agriculture was to take fossil fuels straight off the farm.
The company developed a tractor it says can replace a 400-hp diesel machine and run for 12 hours thanks to large biomethane cartridges.
The fuel created during the capture of methane by digesters and collected livestock waste helps the tractor offset more emissions per unit of energy in its production and use cycle than it emits, AUGA claims. (Read about AUGA.)
These are just two recent examples of how innovation and creative thinking might one day change the way farmers do their work. Those might be the anchor points on a slowly evolving fuel future. Whatever comes next will need to start there, but if these past few weeks are any indication, a change is indeed possible.
