Monthly Archives: June 2009

Switchgrass – A Viable Source of Bioenergy

Switchgrass has been researched as a bioenergy crop since the mid-1980s, because it is a native perennial warm season grass with the ability to produce moderate to high yields on marginal farmlands. It is now being considered for use in several bioenergy conversion processes, including cellulosic ethanol production, biogas, and direct combustion for thermal energy applications. The main agronomic advantages of switchgrass as a bioenergy crop are its stand longevity, drought and flooding tolerance, relatively low herbicide and fertilizer input requirements, ease of management, hardiness in poor soil and climate conditions, and widespread adaptability in temperate climates. In some warm humid southern zones such as Alabama it has the ability to produce up to 25 oven-dry tonnes per hectare (ODT/ha). A summary of switchgrass yields across 13 research trial sites in the United States found the top two cultivars in each trial to yield 9.4 to 22.9 t/ha, with an average yield of 14.6 ODT/ha.…

Golfers and golf courses benefit from use of native grasses in roughs

If you’re a golfer the chances are that you like the look of a well-manicured and highly maintained golf course. I’m pretty sure that you also like extremely green grass that's …

Grain Silos – Older than Agriculture?

Recent archaeological discoveries in Jordan indicate that grain silos were being constructed some 11,000 years ago. According to the authors of the paper "The granaries represent a critical evolutionary shift in the relationship between people and plant foods, which precedes the emergence of domestication and large-scale sedentary communities by at least 1,000 years." In other words, these sophisticated structures appear to be older than the practice we know as agriculture.…

Oklahoma-Kansas Winter Canola Conference – July 21 – Enid, OK

Source: Grainnet.com Call it a meeting of the minds - minds from universities, farming operations and agribusiness who will come together to learn and share about growing canola on the southern Great Plains. The Fifth Annual Oklahoma-Kansas Winter Canola Conference is set for July 21 in the Hoover Building at the Garfield County Fairgrounds in Enid, OK, said canola breeder Mike Stamm. Stamm, who works for both Kansas State University and Oklahoma State University, is one of the conference speakers.…

Mounting evidence shows native grasses could destroy explosives pollution

Besides the obvious reason, TNT is not good for you. But grass, it turns out, might be dynamite for the problem. TNT contaminates hundreds of sites, from military firing …