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6. Renewable energies such as solar and wind power, are helping farms cut costs and increase profits.

Claude Barraud of Natural Resources Canada says the future is bright if we change our sources of fuel.

Did you know you could cut your farm energy costs in half by using renewable energy? Not only would that make your farm more profitable, it would be better for the environment.

That encouraging news comes from Claude Barraud of Natural Resources Canada who lists bioenergy (in which certain crops and woods, and their residues, are converted to energy), solar power, photovoltaics, wind energy, small hydro (using small streams to harness energy) and ground source heat pumps as all sources of power for the farm.

Barraud points to farmers using wood chip systems at one quarter the cost of heating oil or propane, ground source heat pumps to cut energy costs by as much as 70 per cent and solar panels to ventilate barns.

But equipment to utilize renewable energy represents a capital investment.