11/28/06 Coming Clean with Propane

Coming clean with propane. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. Propane has for many years provided a clean and safe way of heating homes and providing power. Mark Leitman with the Propane Education and Research Council says they are now using propane for an altogether different use. Combine it with water to make steam for a powerful weed controller. LEITMAN: Well propane can be used to control weeds in a number of ways. One application is steam. Take water, take propane and you can generate a high temperature, high velocity stream. In this case about 800 degrees Fahrenheit. It's directed at the plant, the plant can't accept that, withers and dies so it's a real effective means of non-chemical weed control. One big plus according to Leitman is the cost. LEITMAN: It really is cost effective. Specially we look at organic producers who have very few if any options, they're really turned on by this process because they're not burning anything; California likes that because of the burning restrictions out there but also, yea, it's very competitive against some of the major chemicals that are used in those application. The downside is the lack of any residual weed control but according to Leitman that creates its own benefit. LEITMAN: Well there really is no residual here. We're applying a little bit of propane, we're applying a little bit of water and that's it so there's a lot less emission coming out of the tailpipe of the tractor that's pulling it through the field. That's got a greater environmental footprint than the application itself does. Bottom line is effectiveness. LEITMAN: Well it's very effective. It all has to do with how you use it and when you use it. You know producers have to learn to use, the steam weed control in this case, at the proper leaf stage, at the right intervals. Obviously it's hard to drag the unit through a field that's very infested with weeds. In some of those cases you need a cut down prior to treatments but very effective when used properly and as the manufacturer would recommend. More than 660,000 farms-over half of all farms in the U.S.-use propane because of its cost effectiveness, safety, efficiency, convenience, portability, and environmental friendliness. Consumption of propane on farms has increased substantially over the past 15 years and the agriculture sector is now the third-largest retail propane market in the U.S., consuming more than 1.5 billion gallons per year, or 10 percent of total demand. Propane`s cost-efficiency and reliability help farmers keep productivity high and operating costs down. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.