Perhaps my big excitement over the farm methane for ethanol production was a bit misguided, as a friend pointed out. He stated that these are not family farms but rather, industrial farms, where too many animals are bred in one place, such that there is lots of manure to go around. These factory-type farms can lead to lots of bacteria and pollutants entering the surrounding land and waterways. Apparently, our governor in Indiana is excited about this prospect, so maybe I should be careful what I wish for. I still think that in theory, this kind of operation could work well and not be the worst case scenario. That would probably be the case if more family-run farms were able to benefit from the methane market. Yet, this begs the question of whether family farms can produce enough methane to power an entire ethanol plant, or whether these huge industrial farms are the only way to go. If the latter is the case, then I would not be so eager to embrace this prospect. Is burning tires for energy a better way to go? It's hard to believe that we might have to weigh those two options in order to obtain cost-effective power for some of these ethanol plants.