LONDON, Ohio — Farmers who want to produce crops for biofuel should visit demonstration plots at the Farm Science Review (FSR) Sept. 20-22. The FSR is hosted by Ohio State University at the Molly Caren Agricultural Center in London, Ohio.

Experts from OSU extension’s Agronomic Crops Team will showcase the history and the future of Ohio’s top crops, greeting attendees in demonstration plots between the parking area and the main entrance. They will help producers evaluate cropping options best suited for Ohio’s climate and soil types.

“The sweet sorghum is really interesting,” said Harold Watters, OSU coordinator of the agronomic crops team. “It’s an annual crop, and we can plant it with our current equipment - but we’ll harvest it a little differently. You’ll harvest the whole plant and take it to an ethanol production facility.”

He said the crop has great promise in Ohio, although he does not anticipate it replacing corn as the main feedstock for the state’s ethanol plants.

“For us to participate we will need a crop that can be incorporated into our current systems,” he said. “That’s why I think that something like sweet sorghum, that can be grown in a corn-soybean rotation in place of some of our corn. It’s an annual crop so we can opt in and out as acres are needed. Harvest is the only sticky point, as we will need choppers and then wagons capable of travelling on the roads to get the crop to a facility.”

Similarly, Watters said farmers could potentially harvest more of the plant material for biofuel production than just the grain or oilseed itself.

“Cornstalks and stover can go into cellulosic facilities,” he said. “My concerns are that we remove too much plant material from the fields in those systems.”

In addition to corn for ethanol and soybeans for biodiesel, plots will feature biofuel-production applications for wheat, sunflowers, switchgrass, sorghum and even trees. “We have willow and poplar trees, which are a little longer-term crop,” Watters said. “They are between a seven- and 10-year cut cycle for cellulosic energy production.”

He said some farmers in northeastern Ohio already are planning production of miscanthus, a type of perennial grass, for biofuel applications. (Read more about this in October’s Marketplace, published with the Sept. 21 issue of Farm World.)

“The corn and soybeans we grow now are easy,” he said. “We have the infrastructure in place to handle them (and) the price allows a farmer to make a living. Change will require an economic incentive to start new crops.”

Watters said it’s difficult to say how many years in the future growing crops specifically for biofuel will be commonplace. “Fifty years ago we grew very few soybeans in Ohio and now it’s our largest crop by acreage. Corn has been here for 2,000 years,” he said. “Both of these are energy crops.”

He said they are used as feed, however – a different type of energy – which is valued higher right now than fuel. “But as oil prices climb, supplies become more limited. And as more concern is shown for atmospheric CO2 (carbon dioxide) levels, then more energy crops will be grown,” he said. “I think they will be part of increased number of alternative energy sources – wind, solar, ground-based heat pumps and others will all be part of what it takes to cover our growing energy needs.”

Members of the Agronomic Crops Team will be in the plots between the parking lot and Gate C all three days to discuss these issues with farmers, as well as other production-related questions outside the biofuel arena. “People can spend five minutes in the plots, or they can spend two or three hours. We’re glad to share what we’ve learned this year, and help farmers do some planning for next year as well,” Watters explained.

In addition to biofuel, the demonstration plots will cover a variety of other topics. “Our demonstration plots will feature soybean and corn production, insect management, cover crops and bioenergy crops,” he said. “We put all of these things in one block; as people come in from the parking lots, they’ll walk right through the plots all in one area.”

Watters said demonstrations focus on how to help farmers do a better job producing corn and soybeans, as well as how to incorporate new crops geared toward biofuel production.