Misunderstandings between the Agriculturalist and Bioindustrialist

There is a lack of understanding between agriculturalists and bioindustrialists. The relationships that do exist between these two parties are fragile ones. Many farms in Stanislaus County can benefit from partnerships with bioindustrial companies, but a lack of good communication makes these opportunities unfruitful. Aemetis, for example, is willing to build anaerobic digesters on a dairy’s land, and pay the dairy to capture the methane their cows are creating. However, dairies turn down the opportunity because of misconceptions regarding methane capture. Industrial companies lack the understanding of farming to be able to answer the questions that farmers have and communicate the value of their products. Ag Biochar had trouble selling their biochar product to farmers because they could not deliver good answers regarding questions such as how the biochar would affect the Ph levels of the farmers’ soil. Today, there exists no intermediary between agriculturalists and industrialists who can provide these needed answers and demystify the farmer’s concerns regarding bioindustrial products like biochar or ethanol. Even something as simple as educating farmers on the fact that methane isn’t “dirty gas” because it comes from cow droppings can make a difference in changing perceptions and building trust between agriculture and industry.