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Environment

Farming Changes Urged For Biofuels

November 20, 2006 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 84, Issue 48

Greater ethanol production could be achieved by a shift in agricultural practices of U.S. corn farmers, says a report by the Biotechnology Industry Organization, a trade association of 1,100 biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Today, nearly all U.S. ethanol is made from corn kernels, and the report recommends that corn stover-stalks and leaves-be harvested along with kernels and also used to make ethanol. The report finds that an additional 5 billion gal per year of ethanol-equal to current U.S. annual ethanol production-could be achieved by processing 30% of the currently available corn stover. In addition, U.S. corn farmers should turn to "no till" farming practices, in which the root and a small part of the corn plant are left in the field after the stover has been removed, to maintain soil quality and control erosion, the report says. Ethanol from stover or other cellulosic sources will be needed to meet the government's goal of producing 60 billion gal of ethanol by 2030, says the report, which cites industry figures showing that U.S. corn growers could produce only 18 billion gal of ethanol by 2015 without significantly eating into other corn uses. As yet, however, there are no commercial-scale biorefineries able to process cellulose into ethanol, although several demonstration plants are being planned. Incentives for no-till farming and support for new rail lines and other infrastructure changes needed to support production of cellulosic ethanol are likely in next year's farm bill, USDA officials say.

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