Taking full advantage of a mid-June opportunity to educate New York City investment fund managers on American agriculture, three outstanding growers made an extremely strong case for the many benefits of no-tilling.

A new No-Till network, known as the Conservation Agriculture Systems Alliance (CASA), has been formed to help local and regional organizations drive adoption of no-till systems and represent North American interests in international conservation agriculture talks.

Switchgrass grown for biofuel can produce 540% more energy than needed to grow, harvest and process into cellulosic ethanol, according to estimates from a large on-farm study conducted by researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Main has been the only state in the U.S. that doesn’t permit the planting of Bt corn, but that might be about to change. The state’s Board of Pesticide Control licensed the genetically engineered corn this past summer and recently held a public hearing on proposed rules regulating its use in the state. Bt corn could be used for the first time in Maine as soon as 2008.

A still-emerging ethanol industry that has already pushed many no-tillers into continuous corn — and which could eventually lead them to new biomass crops or even selling crop residue — appears to be in an early shakeout period.

Corn cobs and fiber, along with stover, are likely to remain the main focus for cellulosic ethanol research and deployment in the Midwest over the next few years, according to the National Corn Growers Association. Cellulosic ethanol is made from the woody parts of plants, rather than the more easily refined grain. Cellulosic studies are now moving from basic research to applications, the NCGA notes.

Researchers from 13 USDA Agricultural Research Service locations, state universities and the U.S. Department of Energy are finishing the second season of field studies in a 5-year project to determine where, when and how much stover can be harvested for ethanol use without harming the soil.

No-tillers have a stake in the production of ethanol. Currently, most ethanol is produced from corn, which has driven up demand and prices. But the consensus among researchers is that corn grain eventually will be replaced by other raw materials, possibly including crop residue, which could a revenue source for no-tillers.