Jay Schmeucker's aim is to make the public—especially farmers—aware that we will need to develop such alternative fuels and fertilizers as fossil fuels become depleted and more expensive, and as climate change worsens. Developing local manufacturing processes to generate carbon-free fuel and fertilizer and powering those processes with renewable energy sources like solar and wind will eliminate farmers’ reliance on fossil fuels. And doing this all locally will remove much of the cost of transporting large amounts of fuel and fertilizers as well. At the demonstration project at Pinehurst, colleague David Toyne, an engineer based in Tujunga, Calif., and Jay have shown that sustainable farming is possible. But much like designing spacecraft, the effort has taken a little longer and presented many more challenges than initially expected.