Toward Sustainable Agriculture

Dear Friend,

     If your work is in agriculture or construction you may be bothered by the noise and smelly exhaust tractors produce. Dealing with toxic, explosive fuel, grease, oil and the constant maintenance may also be a hassle, but there are even more compelling reasons than the solar electric tractor's clean, silent, no hassle operation for replacing our fossil fuel dependent equipment. Degraded air quality, climate change, and global conflict over remaining oil supplies are the results of our petroleum dependence. In addition, bigger and bigger machines and centralized corporate monoculture are causing a loss of biodiversity and traditional farming skills which threaten future food supplies and our very existence.
     The developed world's reliance on petroleum for transportation and agricultural production is not sustainable. Sustainability requires a transition to the use of non-polluting renewable energy sources. The daily energy income from the sun is approximately equal to the energy available from the world's entire petroleum resource. This means that there is a virtually inexhaustible supply of solar energy to fuel an alternative to petroleum dependent agriculture and construction equipment. 

-- Stephen Heckeroth  

http://www.renewables.com/Permaculture/ElectricTractor.htm