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Testing the Water for Bioenergy Crops

By Guest PostSeptember 3, 2011Environmentanjuli bamzai, atmospheric humidity, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, changing climate, corn, darren drewry, energy, environmental advocates, Germany, grasses, hydrologic cycle, hydrology, land conversion, large scale biofuel production, large scale land conversion, limiting factor, max planck institute, miscanthus, phong le, praveen kumar, rainfall patterns, runoff, soil moisture, switchgrass, university of illinois at urbana champaign, vietnam education foundation, water

*Water significant limiting factor in growing crops like switchgrass*

Energy researchers and environmental advocates are excited about the prospect of gaining more efficient large-scale biofuel production by using large grasses like miscanthus or switchgrass rather than corn.

They have investigated yields, land use, economics and more, but one key factor of agriculture has been overlooked: water.

“While we are looking for solutions for energy through bioenergy crops, dependence on water gets ignored, and water can be a significant limiting factor,” said Praveen Kumar, an environmental engineer and atmospheric scientist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (more…)

Landscape Change Leads to Increased Insecticide Use in U.S. Midwest

By Guest PostJuly 19, 2011Environmentagricultural landscapes, annual insecticide application, bioenergy crops, claudio gratton, connecticut, crop diversity, cropland, doug landis, entomologis, great lakes bioenergy research center, insecticide, landscape ecologist, landscape simplification, long term ecological research, lter, michigan, midwest, nancy huntly, national science foundation, natural habitat, nsf, switchgrass, tim meehan, university of wisconsin-madison

*Growth of cropland, loss of natural habitat to blame*

The continued growth of cropland and loss of natural habitat have increasingly simplified agricultural landscapes in the Midwest.

In a study supported in part by the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Kellogg Biological Station Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site in Michigan–one of 26 such NSF LTER sites around the world–scientists concluded that this simplification is associated with increased crop pest abundance and insecticide use. (more…)

Growing Biofuel Crops in Unusual Places

By Guest PostJanuary 29, 2011Environmentairport property, biodiesel, biofuel, biofuel crops, biofuels crop production, canola, cellulosic and oilseed biofuel crops, crops, dennis pennington, ethanol, farmland, freeways to fuels, highway, homegrown bioenergy feedstocks, michigan, michigan economy, natural gas, nontraditional land, oil, oilseed crops, oriental mustard, pennycress, petroleum, renewable fuels, switchgrass, terri novak, vacant urban land

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State University researchers are finding new locations to grow crops used for biofuel.

The land they’ve identified might surprise some because it’s right next to where the fuel is being used. (more…)

Tag Archives: switchgrass

Testing the Water for Bioenergy Crops

Landscape Change Leads to Increased Insecticide Use in U.S. Midwest

Growing Biofuel Crops in Unusual Places