Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Landscape biomass project seeks new biofuel options

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September 21, 2012

BOONE COUNTY, Iowa -- The Landscape Biomass Project, now in its fourth year of a planned ten-year study, continues to evolve as researchers search out ideal biofuel feedstock cropping systems for Iowa.

The experiment, established on Iowa State University’s Uthe Farm, compares replicated plots of five potential biofuel feedstock cropping systems: continuous corn and four alternatives that include soybean, triticale, switchgrass, sorghum or aspen trees. The cropping systems are planted at five different positions on the landscape, from the summit of the hill to the floodplain.

The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture has developed a new brochure about the project, available for download at www.leopold.iastate.edu/pubs-and-papers/2012-09-landscape-biomass-experiment.   

Corn has been the highest yielding crop in the first three years of the experiment. Researchers expect corn yields to stabilize and perennial crop yields to increase as they mature. At present, none of the alternative systems is economically competitive with corn.

Yet the experiment shows that continuous corn has serious environmental impacts, particularly to water quality, a growing concern in Iowa. Samples of soil water drawn from the corn plots have contained the highest levels of nitrogen compared to the other systems. In contrast, the aspen tree system, intercropped with triticale, had almost no nitrogen in its soil water.

Alternative systems have other benefits as well. Switchgrass in particular creates healthier soils by building organic matter and recycling nutrients. Early research indicates that perennial cropping systems may have lower greenhouse gas emissions compared to continuous corn.  

The researchers hope to find ways to balance these environmental benefits with profitability, so that a portfolio of sustainable biofuel systems will be ready for Iowa as markets develop. Although Iowa has largely focused on developing corn grain ethanol, the demand for cellulosic biofuel feedstock is expected to grow. The 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act mandated the production of 36 billion gallons of renewable biofuel by 2022, with 44 percent from cellulosic sources.   

“There is much to learn about how to manage integrated systems because they are more complex than traditional row-crop rotations,” said Emily Heaton, assistant professor in ISU’s Department of Agronomy and a researcher on the project. “If we do it right, we can not only produce food and fuel, but protect our soil and water as well.”

Moving forward, researchers plan to add a miscanthus treatment and work to improve yields and reduce costs in the alternative systems. They hope to craft an integrated analysis of the data to inform science and agricultural policy.

Funding for this project has been provided by Iowa EPSCoR, Iowa State University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the Leopold Center, U.S. Forest Service Northern Research Station, National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Agriculture, with additional in-kind support from the Committee for Ag Development, U.S. Forest Service, ArborGen and the project’s Farmer Advisory Board. 

EDITOR'S NOTE: Photo of research plot is available for download under "related links." Suggested caption is below.

Photo Caption: Research plots at the Uthe farm with soybean in front, aspen tree system and corn, shown July 30, 2012.

For more info contact:

Emily Heaton, ISU Agronomy, 515-294-1310, heaton@iastate.edu

Lisa Schulte Moore, ISU Natural Resource Ecology and Management, 515-294-7339, lschulte@iastate.edu

Jeri Neal, Leopold Center Ecology Initiative, 515-294-5610, wink@iastate.edu

Laura Miller, Leopold Center Communications, 515-294-5272, lwmiller@iastate.edu

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