BiogasdonerightTM: Sustainable Energy to Enable Sustainable Agriculture

Both food and energy provisioning must expand significantly in the next few decades to meet the needs of a growing global population. However, if we expand either energy or food production using current practices, further environmental deterioration is assured from energy production and farming will continue to be both unprofitable for the farmers and environmentally destructive. We need rapidly scalable, proven technologies to expand sustainable food and energy production. Biogasdoneright^TM is one such scalable, proven technology now being implemented at large scale in Italy. Biogasdonerightâ„¢ (or BDR) is an integrated set of agronomic practices that links biogas production with sustainable agriculture. Under current bioenergy approaches, farmers do not benefit much, and, at least in part, the result has been very slow growth in bioenergy production. The Italian experience with BDR will be described along with the significant environmental and economic benefits that accrue to the farmers who practice BDR. During its rapid growth phase, Italian biogas production achieved exponential growth with a doubling time of 14 months. If agriculturally-based renewable energy is to advance rapidly, farmers must benefit significantly. If the proper incentives are put in place, BDR can expand rapidly in other countries beyond Italy, thereby greatly improving the sustainability of both energy and food provisioning. We urgently need to rethink how we incentivize and integrate sustainable agriculture and sustainable energy.