When it looked like electricity prices were about to skyrocket in 1985, the Hurst family of Lititz, Pennsylvania, decided to manage that risk by installing an anaerobic digester.

They consulted with the Waybrights of Mason Dixon Farms in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to build a continuous, plug-flow digester.

Last year, I visited a large, progressive dairy in Vermont with the “Agriculture and the Environment” class taught by Steve Kramer. Our host was very gracious and gave us a guided tour of the farm where we learned a lot about their operation and nutrient management.

At one point I asked about manure application, which elicited not only an answer, but a manure management “jab” at New York to boot.

In Idaho, where the number of dairy cows has increased around 88 percent in the past 12 years, USDA scientists are collecting data on greenhouse gas emissions from dairy facilities and identifying how those emissions fluctuate daily and throughout the year.

Methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide can all help trap heat in the atmosphere, and the development of particulate matter from ammonia is also a concern.

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are leading the way in learning more about "biochar," the charred biomass created from wood, other plant material, and manure.

The studies by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists at laboratories across the country support the USDA priorities of promoting international food security and responding to global climate change. ARS is USDA's chief intramural scientific research agency.

Soil scientist Jeff Novak at the ARS Coastal Plains Soil, Water and Plant Research Center in Florence, South Carolina, is coordinating the multi-location effort. In one project, he led a laboratory study to see if different biochars could improve the sandy soils found on the Carolina coastal plain, and Pacific Northwest silt loam soils derived from volcanic ash.