The United States government has long recognized this, and it's one reason why they provide farmers with agricultural subsidies and low-interest agricultural loans. But while it is busy subsidizing the output of the farms, it is busy fostering long-term dependence and encouraging high-cost energy inputs instead of using our history of self-reliance and innovation. Simply put, if farmers can access low-cost fuel, they can turn a respectable profit while food prices fall. That, in turn, makes the entire country more prosperous as less money in the family budget has to be dedicated to meet basic food needs.

The means of doing this is fairly obvious when it is considered that most farm equipment uses diesel fuel, and that Rudolf Diesel originally designed his internal combustion engine to run on peanut oil. Henry Ford, in fact, dreamed of selling Ford tractors to farmers who would grow their own fuel stocks. We know today that biodiesel can be derived from any number of fuel stocks, from switchgrass to soybeans. The thing holding farmers back from being self-reliant is a lack of vision and a lack of infrastructure.

Many farmers are already familiar with the co-operative. In West Texas, where I grew up, cooperatives built, owned, and operated cotton gins, grain silos, electrical generating and distribution utilities, and telephone services. There is no reason why the idea could not be adapted to move America's farming industries towards biodiesel production. With government-backed loans, dozens of cooperatives could be built in every state, allowing farmers to decide what locally-grown crop is best suited to fuel production. Since many farm subsidies already specify that non-agricultural crops be set-aside, it would not cause undue problems for farmers, either.

The benefits would be numerous. From lower fuel inputs for farmers, we would see lower prices on locally grown produce and farm products. The lowered demand for diesel in the agricultural sector would ease supply lines for the transportation sector and thus lower shipping prices for farm products as well. The home heating oil market would also benefit from looser supply lines, since heating oil and diesel are basically the same product. Since biodiesel produces less pollution than petroleum diesel, it would also have an impact on the air we breathe. Widespread economic relief and a lighter footprint on the earth are two very good reasons for such ideas to move forward.

No one should pretend that such a measure would provide instant relief - cooperative fuel plants would have to be built and put into operation. Nor would it, by itself, lead us to "energy independence". But over a five to ten year period, it could put hundred of thousands, if not millions, of gallons of petroleum diesel back onto the market - which is as much as some drilling projects foresee. It would be one long stride into the future.