Ed Cahoj is looking for people to grow grass — a lot of grass — and not just any grass, but switchgrass, a native warm season perennial that U.S. Department of Energy scientists believe can cut America’s dependence on foreign oil, reduce carbon dioxide emissions and bolster the farm economy.
A Braunvieh beef cattle producer near Half Way, Cahoj is no stranger to grass production, or quests for new energy sources: His dad was a Kansas oil “wildcatter.” For most of the past two years those experiences have meshed in Cahoj’s personal quest — the grassroots development of a sustainable bio-energy industry.
Cahoj and Bolivar’s Howard Hardecke — past president of the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association — are among six board members of the National Biomass Producers Association, which seeks to stimulate a bio-energy industry “that provides an additional revenue stream for its producer members while stimulating the economy of areas where bio-energy plants are established.”
Cahoj explained that the association’s effort’s are “primarily non-grain,” directed at producing energy from plant cellulose, rather than grain starch.
Though other grasses or “biomass feedstocks” may be used in cellulosic ethanol production, DOE researchers have identified switchgrass — a fast- growing, tall prairie grass — as the best candidate.
Cahoj points to research done at Auburn University in Alabama in which test plots of switchgrass averaged more than 11 tons of biomass per acre over a five-year period — enough to produce 1,150 gallons of ethanol per acre each year.
In addition to its value as a bio-energy feedstock, switchgrass is a hardy, highly-adaptable livestock forage. A warm season perennial, the tall grass is native to much of the nation’s prairie lands and provides natural wildlife habitat.
The potential for switchgrass has been embraced by DOE’s Oak Ridge (Tenn.) National Laboratory Biofuels Feedstock Development Program, where researchers are working to build “a foundation for a biofuels industry that will make and market ethanol and other biofuels from switchgrass... at prices competitive with fossil fuels.”
New technologies utilizing enzymes to break down complex carbohydrates in cellulose feedstocks are being developed that differ from the traditional fermentation and distillation process used for producing alcohol from corn.
Cahoj said the industry is now working with first generation technology. “New technology on the horizon will be available to get more energy out of the raw product.”
The technology for cost-effective biomass energy production will be available before the supply of switchgrass, Cahoj said. “The greatest need now is for landowners to be thinking about participating.”
The local biomass production effort promoted by Cahoj is one of many similar initiatives across the country. “We need to get the word out that this is a honest effort to develop a sustainable biofuels industry. If we don’t do it, someone else will,” he said.
The National Biomass Producers Association, includes producers from both Missouri and Kansas, and has a broad geographic focus.
Local promotion of bio-energy production and utilization of all types of biomass feedstock is through the not-for-profit Ozarks Green Energy Development. The stated objective of the OGED is “to encourage and facilitate the development of a bio-energy industry in southern Missouri through educational and charitable programs.”
Southwest Missouri landowners interested in producing switchgrass for bio-energy production or learning more about NBPA logon to www.biomass-producers.com .
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