Reseachers results from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory describe great potential for biomass, specifically that from no-till farms, to fuel transportation in the United States.

According to the research report, with some changes in land use and agricultural and forestry practices, American acreage could produce enough biomass to replace at least 30 percent of the country’s current consumption of petroleum-based fuel by 2030.

Advanced conversion technologies could raise the potential petroleum replacement even higher, to as much as 50 percent.

The report concluded that farms could potentially contribute 998 million dry tons of biomass annually, with much of that being crop residue such as corn stover and even perennial crops managed with no-till production techniques.

The report noted that a biomass harvest should not diminish soil fertility or increase erosion, goals that are consistent with no-tilling.

The findings are outlined in the research report Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: the Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply. For more information, visit: http://feedstockreview.ornl.gov/pdf/billion_ton_vision.pdf.

OTHER NO-TILL NEWS...

Farms Technology LLC of Overland Park, Kan., and United Bio Energy of Wichita, Kan., have launched the Dynamic Pricing Platform, a grain procurement Web site initially available at a few UBE locations, beginning immediately with East Kansas Agri-Energy in Garnett, Kan.

The DPP allows no-tillers and other growers to monitor futures market cash grain prices in real time. When the market reaches the seller’s target price, the DPP automatically executes transactions for them. One cent per bushel…