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USDA head suggests harvesting switchgrass on conservation land

Posted at 1:25 PM on 04 Mar 2008

Department of Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said Tuesday that it would be a "great idea" to allow farmers to grow and harvest biofuel-bound switchgrass on land currently set aside as wildlife habitat. More than 34 million acres in the U.S. are in the Conservation Reserve Program, which pays landowners to convert cropland to native grasses and keep it largely untouched. Environmentalists found the idea not so great; growing switchgrass on CRP land would "completely undermine the purposes of the program," says Julie Sibbing of the National Wildlife Federation. More than 2 million acres of land were removed from CRP designation last year, and another 2 million acres are expected to be re-converted to cropland this year.

source: Greenwire (access ain't free)

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Comments: (4 comments)

You are not logged in. Thus, you cannot post a comment. If you have a Gristmill account, log in below. If you don't have a Gristmill account, well, by all means go make one! Meet you back here in five.

It is startling

that people as clueless as Ed Schafer occupy the positions they do.

Or, is it all an act, to stroke the base and yank the chains of the conservationists?

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 3:16 PM on 04 Mar 2008

Biofuels & The Environment

This article really brings home the harm that is being caused by replacing petroleum fuels with biofuels. While biofuels made from waste are a vast improvement over petrofuels, biofuels made from crops grown on what used to be natural land are very ecologically destructive. For example, in addition to the harm identified here, rainforests are being cut down to grow biofuels. And of course growing biofuels instead of food either makes food scarce or raises its price.

The only way to solve the ecological problems caused by driving is to reduce or eliminate driving. Attacking symptoms instead of the problem, as here, will not fix the problem.

And, BTW, despite lies and propaganda to the contrary, biofuels will do absolutely nothing about global warming. All fuels create CO2 when burned; it's the least toxic emission possible. (Biofuels could reduce global warming if they were grown on land that was paved, where the pavement had been removed in order to grow them. Otherwise, it's just replacing one plant with another.)

by Wolverine at 3:18 PM on 04 Mar 2008

I'm not going to stop

I'm not likely to ever stop driving or associate my independence with a personal car.

But I will go way, way out of my way to get the most technologically advanced and least CO2 and smog producing vehicle I can. And I will vote with the ballot and my dollars to influence carbon free solutions. And I will convince friends and family to do so as well.

by christophersj at 3:45 PM on 04 Mar 2008

Ed Schafer on a roll

According to Jerry Hagstrom (DTN.ag) Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer reportedly said "I'd like to see all the CRP (conservation lands) acres out there growing switchgrass" that could be used for bioenergy.

It's all about balance isn't it? Schafer values are still in the same place but he sees his comments as getting "greener" perhaps the new "Middle East" is the "Middle West".

What good would the bio-fuels be if they just consumed all the conversation lands that are aiding in the protection of our wildlife for future generations as well as contributing to a reduction in GHG by being out of active Ag rotation. These Farm Bill conversation programs are intiated by farmers and they are way underfunded already.

Bio-fuels while a good option for alternative fueling has to be worked into a sustainable approach.

by globalbee at 5:07 PM on 06 Mar 2008

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