The ag community will likely be hearing and seeing a lot more about 25 x'25 in the ensuing months. The www.25x25.org Web site describes the 25 x'25 program as a “rallying cry for renewable energy and a goal for America — to get 25% of our energy from renewable resources like wind, solar, biogas and biofuels by the year 2025.” The Agricultural Retailers Association has endorsed the program and, to date, so have some 225 other organizations and businesses.

Because ag retailers and their farmer-customers have a stake in the future of energy policy, they will want to stay abreast of what's being done at the grassroots level to address what President Bush calls “our addiction to oil.”

Not only is the ag community a huge oil consumer, it stands to gain from the production of fuels grown from a variety of agricultural crops. “Ethanol and biodiesel will be huge players, and cellulosic ethanol will eventually be commercially viable. There are billions of tons of biomass that could be used to produce ethanol,” says Read Smith, co-chair of the 25 × '25 steering committee, and a small grains and cattle producer from St. John, WA.

Shortly after 9/11, a nonpartisan group that included farmers, agribusiness leaders and former administration officials met and agreed that the U.S. needed a new energy paradigm, recognizing that many of the problems (including terrorism) in the world were interrelated and linked to energy issues, Smith explains. Ernie Shea served as coordinator, and Smith and Bill Richards, former chief of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service, served as co-chairs. Together they helped organize a cross-section of agricultural and forestry leadership that could provide valuable input. This group was sponsored by the Energy Future Coalition, which sought to collaborate with business, labor and environmental groups on identifying new energy policy options that could garner broad political support.

The group met several times and in 2004 created the 25 × '25 goal. It's an aggressive goal, but the alliance is betting on advances in technology that will make renewable energy more economical, along with the “can do” spirit that Americans have so long embraced, Smith says.

If the country gets behind the vision, the alliance can meet its goal, Smith says. That is why the alliance has worked to create a broad-based group of supporters, including people from agribusiness and other industries and organizations, such as the National Education Association. Smith suggests that ag retailers can help get the word out about 25 × '25 by including information about it in their newsletters and other publications and on their Web sites. The 25 × '25 organizers can supply details. General inquiries may be e-mailed to info@25x25.org.

Ag retailers and their customers also can contact their elected officials, encouraging them to adopt 25 × '25 as a national goal. The alliance already has helped to get several state legislatures to explore how the program can help accomplish state energy goals. Twelve governors have announced their support for the energy initiative.

Moreover, 24 senators and 54 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have embraced a resolution calling for the renewable energy goal of 25% of the nation's energy from renewable sources by 2025. “We'd like everyone to encourage their local representatives and senators to sign on,” Smith says.

British Petroleum's recent announcement that it would shut down this country's largest oilfield to examine corroded pipes is just the latest in a string of events that serve as a wake-up call to do something about our dependency on conventional and foreign oil. Supporters of 25 × '25 have smelled the coffee and their eyes are wide open.

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