Hot News

9.18.2007

By STEPHANIE JORDAN
Staff Reporter

BALTIMORE, Md. — Cover crops and switchgrass might be a significant source of income for farmers once cellulosic technology is developed and operational in the Mid-Atlantic region, according to “Biofuels and the Bay: Getting it right to benefit farms, forests and the Chesapeake,” a report by the Chesapeake Bay Commission.
Bill Matuszeski, project leader for the report, said they have already been hearing from people around the country about the new report. The report gives recommendations to reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil; to reduce greenhouse gases; to encourage the development of renewable energies; and to improve rural economies.
“Renewable fuels can be a source of new permanent income for farmers,” he said. “We need to get the region ahead of everyone in cellulosic ethanol.”
It’s important to develop that cellulosic infrastructure in the Mid-Atlantic region since it is the least invested in ethanol of the corn producing areas in the United States.
“When it comes to corn and soybeans, we’re not competitive with the Midwest,” Matuszeski said. “That’s the reality, and we have to accept certain realities.”
The other reality is that during his 2007 State of the Union speech, President George W. Bush set a goal of 35 billion gallons of biofuels by 2017. Of those 35 billion gallons, Matuszeski said, two-thirds of them will have to come from a crop other than corn.
The commission’s report introduces several alternative scenarios for the region’s potential production and the impact on the Chesapeake Bay. Keeping in mind that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Bay Program office is trying to get a 90 million pound reduction in nitrogen loads from all sources, it will take 26 years to achieve that goal.
The first scenario outlined is an additional 300,000 acres of corn for the region (with typical management practices). That corn acreage means a 5 million pound increase of nitrogen to the Bay. The report then looks at the impact of 300,000 additional acres of soybeans (again with typical management practices) — a 2.6 million pound increase of nitrogen to the Bay.
Switchgrass, once the cellulosic technology is available readily, will be a leading crop for biofuels, according to the report. The report looks at the impact of 300,000 acres of switchgrass, converted primarily from hay and pastureland, with no fertilizer. That scenario means an 8.3 million pound reduction in nitrogen to the Bay.
Cover crops on existing corn acreage, plus the additional 300,000 acres, would lead to a 17.1 million pound reduction in nitrogen, and 1 million acres of switchgrass, again converted primarily from hay and pastureland with no fertilizer, would lead to a 25.4 million pound nitrogen reduction.
Matuszeski said that if switchgrass is encouraged with technology comes online and everyone uses cover crops with corn, “we’d be capable of reducing a 26-year job to a 14-year job.”
He added that the report encourages state legislatures and Congress to explore incentives for the those in the private sector who are willing to take risks on new technologies.
“We need to reward people for taking chances to get things moving along,” Matuszeski said. If handled correctly, he added, biofuels can help the farm community and improve water quality.
Will Baker, president of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, said that implementing agricultural conservation techniques is crucial to Bay cleanup; those techniques can help reduce dead zones in the Bay, put more dissolved oxygen in the water, cool the planet and reduce carbon in the atmosphere.
One example of the critical state of the Bay: Rockfish populations are stressed because of warmer water temperatures.
The rockfish are forced deeper into the water, but there is less dissolved oxygen there, so the rockfish are squeezed between the low dissolved oxygen areas and the higher water temperature.
And to make the situation more critical, Baker said, lower dissolved oxygen levels emit methane and nitrous oxide.
Although carbon is the greenhouse gas most talked about, it is the least efficient at trapping solar energy; methane and nitrous oxide are much more efficient, leading to warmer temperatures.
“We need to accelerate leadership at the state level to get the job done,” he said. “We can do it. We can be a model for the rest of the world. The opportunity is at our fingertips if we’ll only seize it.”
And he adds that farmers will play a crucial role in helping to save the Bay.
“Farmers can be our great partners,” he said. “They’re more than willing to meet us halfway.”