Tuesday, December 16, 2003
I love to read good news. Most of the agricultural products we produce and consume in the U.S. are produced on large, corporate owned factory farms, which, specifically in the case of hog farms, produce tons of hog waste (manure, urine etc) a year. The waste is kept in big, stinky shit lagoons which are filled then buried or covered with a tarp,wreaking havoc on the surrounding environment, ruining the ground water and plumetting property values near them. The cost to dispose of the waste or bury it is around $40,000 an acre. That's why I was so happy to see this story on MSNBC today. Apparently now some brilliant scientists from Oregon have bred a hybrid form of the poplar tree that sucks up the waste like a drinking straw, making the ground useable again in about ten years, and costing $15,00-$20,000 for an entire 3-4 acre lagoon. Science kicks ass!!
