Why
switchgrass?
Switchgrass, a warm season grass native to Iowa, grows well in a wide range of soil and
weather conditions. The versatility of switchgrass makes it useful for grazing, mulch,
animal bedding, as well as an energy fuel.
Benefits
Switchgrass production and use, particularly on marginal land, can improve soil quality,
reduce erosion, protect water quality, aid in carbon sequestration, and enhance wildlife
habitat.
One of the benefits of growing switchgrass is improved soil quality.
Potential markets
Currently, Prairie Lands is evaluating the feasibility of producing and marketing
switchgrass for potential markets. Those markets include:
Use as filler in the manufacture of plastic products;
Pellets and logs;
Mulch for landscaping;
Fiberboard and paper;
Animal bedding; and for
Use as fuel to co-fire with coal at the Ottumwa Generating Station.
One of the uses for
switchgrass is animal bedding
Is
switch grass profitable after CRP?
Jim Hall, a member of Prairie Lands Bio-Products, Inc., found a profitable solution when his Crop Reserve Program (CRP) contract was about to expire. For the past ten years he has maintained 180 acres of switchgrass to satisfy his CRP contract. As with many producers, he was faced with what to do with the land once the contract expired. He could either convert the acres back to row crop or find a use for the existing switchgrass. He chose the latter, and now harvests the switchgrass for seed, and sells the remaining straw to be used as mulch for highway construction.
Hall says 150 to 200 pounds per acre of pure live seed is considered a good harvest,
with the price ranging from four to five dollars per pound. Moisture content of ten
percent or less is recommended. Our seed had between eight and ten percent, he says.
After harvesting the seed, the remaining straw is baled. The switchgrass straw sells for $45 per ton, with an acre of switchgrass producing around three and a half tons per acre.
Hall sold his switchgrass straw to Jim Leer of Leer Tiling and Construction in Keswick, Iowa. The straw was contracted to be used for mulch on 117 acres of highway construction on County Line road T180.
Leer says, The switchgrass is applied according to Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations regarding native grasses, which is two tons per acre. He added that cereal straw is applied at the rate of one and a half tons per acre, and costs $60 a ton. Leer also applied switchgrass mulch on a small segment of Highway 149 south of Sigourney.
For Hall, the switchgrass opportunity couldn't have come at a better time for not only for his wife Cheryl and him, but for his son, Derek, who is in his second year of Farm Management studies at Muscatine Community College. The time was right to help Derek get a start in farming, Hall says.
The use of switchgrass straw as mulch is also good news for other producers looking for income possibilities for their CRP acres.
Hall credits his knowledge of switchgrass potential to his involvement with Prairie Lands Bio-Products, Inc. Prairie Lands is a cooperative group of switchgrass growers investigating alternative products made from switchgrass. The group cooperates with the Chariton Valley Biomass Project, which currently evaluates switchgrass as a renewable energy source, as well as an alternative to row crop on marginal land in southern Iowa.
