California farmers are reconsidering the way they use and purchase power after facing months of low crop prices and soaring energy costs. In an attempt to stave off some of the worst economic pain, some growers are organizing themselves into power buying groups or investigating alternative sources of energy. Farmers in San Diego County are forming a power buying cooperative with the help of the local farm bureau, several rural food processors are building their own power plants and some Central Valley dairymen are trying to mine manure lagoons for methane gas to generate electricity. We will bring all the buyers into one pool and then go out and negotiate for all growers at one time.
Farmers have lots of experience with co-ops.
Farmers in San Diego County are eager for any salve for their power woes because a wrinkle in the state's deregulation scheme allowed that county's large-consumer power bills to soar while they remained capped in the rest of the state. The co-op, expected to be up and running within weeks, will use the combined purchasing power of hundreds of farmers to buy gas and electricity at discounted rates, but won't invest in power plants, pipelines or transmission lines. The billing details have yet to be worked out, and Larson and his staff are preparing for power contract negotiations by trying to find out just how much energy the county's farmers use every month. Although no one knows exactly how much is being consumed, the biggest demand for power right now is coming from greenhouse operators using natural gas and farmers running irrigation and well pumps. With that kind of bill, he's going to wait to see if he'll get lucky with a late-season rainstorm or a break in the electricity crisis before dipping into his wells.