01/21/09 Propane savings

This is the first of a 3-part series on the potential for propane to save farmers and ranchers money. There's an old piece of economic advice&buy low/sell high. That certainly works for stocks and commodities and because of the crazy prices of fuel in the past six months, it's good advice to buy gas when prices are low. But it's tough to gauge what's low and when. As farmers face rising input costs and volatile markets - they're looking for ways to reduce operating costs. Improving efficiency of farm equipment is one way to do that and - according to Mark Leitman, the Director of Agriculture Programs for the Propane and Education Research Council - propane can help. Leitman says producers can improve equipment efficiency and cut costs by converting to propane or upgrading existing propane equipment. He says the efficiency of modern propane engines has increased by 20 to 30-percent over older engine models. (Leitman) "With the popularity of diesel rising over the last few years, people have forgotten that propane engines have improved in performance and efficiency. We're now finding that no longer does it take two gallons of propane to equal the same amount of work as one gallon of diesel, that ratio's down to 1.5/1.6 gallons of propane to do the same amount of work as a gallon of diesel, which makes propane irrigation engines a cost effective solution for farmers and a way they might be able to reduce their operating costs." Tomorrow in Part Two of our series, we'll hear about how upgrading old equipment can make a big difference in saving money.