Biofuel production on the margins

Abstract

An analysis shows that fuel made from wild, herbaceous vegetation grown on land currently unsuitable for cultivating field crops could contribute substantially to the United States' targets for biofuel production. See Letter p.514 Productive agricultural land that could otherwise be used to produce much-needed food crops is being diverted towards grain-based ethanol production in both Europe and the United States, partly in response to government legislation. An alternative is to grow cellulosic crops on so-called marginal lands. An evaluation of the potential of marginal lands in the Midwestern United States to produce biofuel while mitigating direct greenhouse gas emissions now finds that they have the capacity to produce a significant amount of biofuel energy without the initial carbon debt and indirect land-use costs associated with food-based biofuels.