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Re: hm-m biofuel?

I talked about this kind of issue a few months  ago with someone in this area 
(Iowa) who is more familiar with biofuel  issues than I am.  It was her 
opinion that in order to create maximum  profit,  the biofuels industry would 
probably want to  use one species only (like switchgrass) and breed that species 
for  maximum biomass per acre.   
 
Not a very joyous prospect for those of us who don't like  cultivar 
switchgrass and are already seeing it becoming invasive in  some situations.   And 
while potential monocultures of monster-size  switchgrass would presumably be 
better for soil and water than cornfields,  they aren't exactly wonderful wildlife 
habitat, let alone good  for biodiversity.
 
However, if there were government incentives to move in more  diverse 
directions, presumably that could happen.   Given how hard it  has been to hammer the 
Farm Bill into having some concern for  wildlife, more hammering would 
presumably be needed, but I would hope that  a number of organizations might  be 
interested in  hammering.    
 
Of course Iowa is different than Texas in that much of Iowa is great  for 
growing corn.  But growing huge amounts of corn does not  bring automatic 
prosperity, and some of us who live here (and some young  people who used to live 
here) are/were not particularly happy about living  in a giant rowcrop field.  We 
would welcome a more diverse and  beautiful landscape.  And it would be nice 
if we didn't just replace one  monoculture with another.  
 

Cindy  Hildebrand
grantridge@aol.com
Ames, IA  50010

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