Recently, looking through one of the other farm publications, I was fascinated to read an article on how scientists in the United Kingdom have learned that soil micro-organisms can be used to generate electricity for a soil-powered battery.
    University of Bath researchers have developed a battery, branded as a “Bactery”, which is about the size of a baseball. They hope farmers can use the batteries to power sensors in their fields that are becoming more common in agriculture.
    The Bacteries contain two electrodes ­— the anode is buried in the soil while the cathode is exposed to the air. “Electrodes populate the surface of the anode and as they ‘consume’ the organic compounds present in the soil, they generate electrons,” says a report from sciencedaily.com.
    “These electrons are transferred to the anode and travel to the cathode via the external circuit, generating electricity.”
    At the moment, the most common types of wireless power for in-field sensors are single-use batteries and solar, according to Dr. Jakub Dziegielowski who founded Bactery to commercialize the technology. The Bactery is envisioned as a cheap source of power for in-field sensors where power delivery makes up 50 to 60 per cent of the costs of sensors.
    The start-up expects to sell the soil-powered Bacteries for about $45. It could be a significant market since batteries need replacing and solar panels are not ideal in a dusty field.
    Will we soon see these types of soil-powered batteries in use in farm fields in our area? I have no idea, but I can’t forget how much power has changed on farms even in my lifetime. When I was a lad on a Bruce County farm, we had only installed electricity a few years earlier. The people who lived there only a few years previously would have been amazed at the difference.
    Our current farmhouse, in which we’ve lived for nearly a half-century, was full of stove-pipe holes when we moved here, shortly after an oil-furnace had been installed. Today, our house is heated by geo-thermal heat, drawn from the ground even in the midst of a Huron County winter.
    Much of the electricity we use comes from the Bruce Nuclear plant, which I remember being built as a young man; it caused all sorts of controversy when electrical lines carrying power from the station were built. It has taken us half a century to decide how to get rid of the waste from that plant – the decision only being made recently to bury the waste in Northern Ontario, 2,000 feet underground. 
    There was more controversy when a previous Ontario government decided to generate electricity from wind turbines, and nearby landowners complained that the turbines disturbed their health. After the current Progressive Conservative government originally stopped wind turbine development, the government has recently committed to new turbine growth.
    I remember young entrepreneurs installing solar panels to generate power under the previous Liberal government.
    We’ve also been big on finding alternatives to polluting gas-burning cars and trucks. Our federal and provincial governments have actually got together to subsidize companies that want to build batteries to power cars that work on electric power.
    So much has changed in my lifetime when it comes to power. When I was going to school there were relatively few people employed  in research. Today there are thousands and thousands of scientists employed, not just in Canada but throughout the world.
    No doubt there are more eye-opening discoveries not that far away. This is the power of what  science can do to improve our world.◊