Farmlands grow feed and fuel with tech know-how

With some 35,000 acres in the Carson Valley and another 15,000 in California, Bently Agrowdynamics puts a big footprint on the Douglas County farming economy. About 10,000 acres are planted, and other acreage is grazed.

In addition to raising cattle and alfalfa, the ranch is a showplace of agricultural conservation practices.

Rather than flooding fields in the spring, a practice wasteful of water, a pressurized irrigation system forces water downward to water deep alfalfa roots three feet deep.

And all farm trucks and equipment run on biofuel.

College students in the environmental and agricultural sciences come by on field trips, says Bently, to talk about leading edge efforts such as growing algae, which make triglicerides, for fuel.

"There are 100,000 kinds of algae," he says.