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Think beyond grain yieldsBy Doug Rich "There is only so much sunshine and the ability to grow grain or residue," Scott Staggenborg, Professor of Agronomy, Kansas State University, said. That is a problem, when we are trying to increase carbon in the soil and expand ethanol production using crop residue. No-till farming is an efficient way to sequester carbon in the soil by increasing organic matter. Crop residue is essential to that process. The question is how much crop residue can we dedicate to ethanol and still maintain the benefits of no-till production. "We have to be smart on how we design this biofuel feedstock system," Dr. Chuck Rice, director of the Soil Carbon Center, said. "We don't want to destroy or lose the capacity to produce biofuel feedstock or food; so, we have to be sustainable. If we start degrading the soil carbon, then we only have maybe 10 years of production and then we have lost that capacity to produce food or fuel. We need to design systems that have long-term sustainability." One of the benefits of no-till or conservation tillage is the reduction in soil erosion. Remove the crop residue and it opens the ground up to wind and water erosion. Soil erosion results in loss of topsoil, which is the soil with the highest concentration of organic matter. Soil with a high concentration of organic material is highly productive soil. "Anything that increases yield increases soil carbon content," Staggenborg said. "As we remove the residue, the soil organic matter goes down and the soil carbon goes down." Producers need to decide how much of the crop residue they can remove and still maintain productivity and soil carbon levels. "No-till cropping systems will be essential to maintaining soil carbon levels in biofuel feedstock systems," Staggenborg said. Staggenborg added that alternating biomass with grain crops and cropping systems that remove 70 percent or less of the biomass appears to have the greatest potential to maintain soil carbon levels. "There is only so much carbon in the system," Staggenborg said. "We need to think beyond grain yields." Doug Rich can be reached by phone at 785-749-5304 or by e-mail at richhpj@aol.com. 1/7/08 Date: 1/2/08
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