Jan 5, 2008 3:39 pm US/Central
Bioenergy Could Create Farming, Sport Opportunity
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) ―
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Every year the DNR brings together sportsmen to talk about issues of concern.
CBS
Minnesota hunting and fishing interests should be involved as the state tries to develop more economic opportunities from bioenergy, according to participants at a Department of Natural Resources forum this weekend.
Every year the DNR brings together sportsmen to talk about issues of concern. This year's meeting took place Friday and Saturday in St. Cloud, where officials said the growth of bioenergy could be a "win-win" for environmentalists, communities and sportsmen.
One push from the conservation-minded is to invest more money in researching the use of grasses, like switch grass and prairie grass, to replace corn as the main ingredient in ethanol. Such prairie grasses would provide a continued home for wildlife and a filter for run off, and don't need fertilization to keep growing, as corn does.
"We know how to grow grass, we know how to turn it into energy, and we know it also sequesters carbon underground and it creates habitat, and cleans up water quality," said Jim Kleinschmidt, with the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy in Minneapolis. "Now we're talking about taking that plant material and growing it commercially on farms. It's a great win-win if we take into account those multiple benefits."
If society were to put a dollar figure on the conservation of wildlife habitat and clean water, then it makes sense to use prairie grass for energy production instead of corn, Kleinschmidt said. But he acknowledged it will take years for farmers to make such a transition.
Paul Stark, an official with the Minnesota Farm Bureau, said farmers won't make the switch unless it's profitable. He predicted that it would take another generation of farmers before such a move is fully embraced.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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