If you are growing all of the corn your farm can produce for the local market, what about that rough ground that may be in the CRP for the next year or two? It just is not adaptable to row crops, but if the USDA opens the Conservation Reserve, would it be adaptable to switchgrass?

Ethanol plants have popped up in most counties in Iowa, and there are dozens more throughout the Cornbelt. But there are limits on the amount of corn that can be refined into ethanol, and still meet the demand for livestock and the export market. That is why the Congress put a 15 billion gallon upper limit on corn-based ethanol. Beyond that our thinkers have said the biomass-based ethanol industry is nearly unlimited. If one of those type of ethanol plants pops up down the road, would you begin feeding it switchgrass?

University of Nebraska researchers Richard Perrin, Jim Roberts, and Brian Williams analyzed the economics of switchgrass on behalf of Cornbelt and Great Plains farmers who may be considering it for an alternative crop. Switchgrass provides cellulosic ethanol, and most of the plants converting biomass into ethanol are in the experimental phase. Several federally-subsidized plants are under construction that will produce 140 million gallons per year by 2011. The federal mandate for ethanol calls for 100 million gallons of production by 2010, one billion gallons by 2013, and that will require investors to start construction on 30 more plants in short order.

Let the plant investors worry about that aspect, but your job is to evaluate the financial return for producing switchgrass on your farm. The Nebraska researchers analyzed the operations of 10 farmers, who have produced 15-20 acres of switchgrass for the past five years, on acreage that would qualify for CRP land.

The average production cost was $60 per acre, with an average 2.2 tons per acre yield. The better farms averaged 2.5 tons with a $47 per ton cost, and the poorer farms averaged 1.6 tons per acre with costs exceeding $80 per acre. Costs per acre included:
• $12.15 for planting
• $13.53 for herbicide application
• $15.03 for fertilizer application
• $32.64 for harvesting.
• With a $59.67 land rent, the total cost was $133.02

The Nebraska researchers acknowledged the relatively low land cost and say a doubling of rental rates would increase costs to $87 per ton.

The cost of the switchgrass feed stock would be about 75¢ per gallon, if 80 gallons could be refined per ton of switchgrass. Compared to corn, it would be $1 per gallon, which is still competitive even with high land costs.

Commercial plants are not prepared yet to solicit delivery of switchgrass, so please don’t plant any in the coming spring, unless you have a contract for delivery. The researchers believe that once plants are operational, and switchgrass is being delivered locally, then economics will begin work in favor of the “switchgrass economy.”

Summary:
Switchgrass is currently not an economical feed stock for ethanol production, but federal mandates will require it to be used soon, as the nation transitions from corn to biomass for its ethanol production. Researchers have indicated that switchgrass can be competitive as an ethanol feedstock, when compared to corn.