By Whitney Beadle, For USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin.
Sit back and think of cow products for just a moment … visions of gooey cheese curds, dripping ice cream and mouthwatering hamburgers cooked just right. But does renewable energy come to mind? It should.
Agricultural operations have long provided a base for our nation’s economy and stomachs; however, they also serve as a vastly-untapped resource for continuous clean energy production, contribute to nutrient management plans, create organic products and overall further the sustainability of rural communities, when paired with anaerobic digestion systems.
Similar to a cow’s stomach breaking down feed into energy to produce dairy and beef products, anaerobic digestion systems break down organic materials into energy products.