Columbia, Missouri
July 16, 2009
Producing biofuel crops can help
the environment and ease demand for fossil fuels—or it can do
exactly the opposite, depending on how farmers manage the land.
University of Missouri
researchers have received a $250,000 federal grant to
demonstrate techniques for growing biofuel crops while
supporting wildlife, protecting soil and water, and bolstering
the farmer’s profits.
“MU is the model for demonstrating how conservation, wildlife
and modern agriculture can work together,” said Tim Reinbott,
director of the new project and superintendent of MU’s Bradford
Research and Extension Center in Columbia. “We have generated a
lot of attention from Midwestern and Southern states interested
in adopting the educational and extension approaches we have
used to integrate these disciplines.”
The award was part of an $18 million set of Conservation
Innovation Grants announced July 13 by Secretary of Agriculture
Thomas Vilsack. The grants support the development of new
technologies and approaches to help farmers conserve and sustain
natural resources.
With matching funds from the Missouri Department of
Conservation, the nonprofit conservation group Quail Unlimited
and others, the award package for MU will total more than
$500,000.
Federal mandates call for the annual production of 36 billion
gallons of biofuels by 2022, including 15 billion gallons from
cellulosic ethanol. Corn is the main source of ethanol today,
but producers are looking at other crops, particularly
switchgrass, an adaptable, high-yield perennial that is good at
tolerating drought, flooding, pests and poor soil.
But switchgrass has some drawbacks too, Reinbott said.
Switchgrass is hungry for nitrogen fertilizer, which in
commercial form has a heavy carbon footprint and a price tag
tied to fossil fuel prices. The push for biofuels may motivate
farmers to convert cornfields and pasture to switchgrass or
plant switchgrass on marginal land that now hosts diverse,
wildlife-friendly plant communities.
“Large stretches of switchgrass are essentially a desert for
wildlife,” Reinbott said.
Densely growing switchgrass provides little space for animals to
find food, tend their young and escape from predators, he said.
For most of the last decade, Bradford Farm has been a center for
the development and refinement of techniques that profitably
integrate wildlife habitat into modern agriculture. Since 2003,
Bradford Farm has seen a 23-fold increase in its population of
northern bobwhite quail, a once-plentiful game bird that often
serves as a bellwether of ecosystem health. Hundreds of farmers
and landowners attend field days and workshops at Bradford to
learn about incorporating wildlife habitat into farmland.
Reinbott, research specialist Ray Wright and MU Extension
wildlife specialist Bob Pierce have expanded the focus of this
work from traditional row crops such as corn and soybeans to
switchgrass and other biofuel crops.
As an alternative to switchgrass monocultures, the researchers
at Bradford are growing demonstration plots for biofuel
production that mix grasses with legumes such as clover and
lespedeza, and forbs, which are a group of broadleaf plants that
includes sunflowers, goldenrod and coreopsis. Such mixtures
provide wildlife with varied types of food and cover. They also
can lower the need for added nitrogen and other nutrients,
reducing production costs and potentially shrinking a field’s
carbon footprint by several tons per acre.
Reinbott noted that research at the University of Minnesota
indicates that mixtures of grasses, legumes and forbs actually
can yield more biomass for biofuel use than monocultures.
The Conservation Innovation Grant will enable MU to showcase
alternative production strategies for biofuel crops at three
other MU research farms: Greenley Center in northeast Missouri,
Hundley-Whaley Center in northwest Missouri and Southwest Center
in Mt. Vernon. Each center will collaborate with private farmers
or landowners.
“With the grant, we can take this to different parts of the
state,” Reinbott said. That will not only allow more Missouri
farmers to learn about the strategies developed at Bradford
Farm, it will allow researchers to tailor these strategies for
different climates and soil conditions. “There’s not one formula
for every place.” |
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