Are we missing something here?
Submitted by Dick Wanner on Tue, 06/09/2009 - 2:45pm.
Switchgrass
What's seven feet tall and seemed like a slam-dunk for alternative energy five years ago? If you answered "LeBron Switchgrass," relax and pour yourself a glass of organic mint tea. Switchgrass, long the darling of conservation projects for its deep-rooted, hardy and self-replenishing ways, created a small torrent of news and commentary a few years back, but it seems like just a dribble, now.
Switchgrass was being touted as a feedstock for cellulosic ethanol plants by none other than President George W. Bush, who mentioned it in his January, 2006, state of the union address. There were magazine and newspaper articles, TV segments and National Public Radio spots. Everybody was high on switchgrass.
And it's a fantastic plant, whether it's grown for fuel, fiber, forage or as a way to stop soil erosion. Some of the enthusiasm for switchgrass reminded me of Miles Fry in the early 1970s. A Lancaster County farmer and conservationist, Fry was convinced that hybrid poplars, already an important conservation tool, could produce homegrown fuel for America. I interviewed Fry, did a story for Lancaster Farming and wondered over the years, if his vision would ever take hold.
It didn't. But Fry's descendants still operate Frysville Farms and they still offer hybrid poplar seedlings. You can buy some next spring if you want to start your own energy farm.
I don't know if hybrid poplars represent a missed opportunity or not. How would our country look today if we had been more diligent about alternative energy sources when Miles Fry was filling his pickup with gas at 35 cents a gallon?
Who knows? Would our air be cleaner? Would we have had a more deeply rooted prosperity? Would we have waged war in the Middle East? Would we be concerned about global warming?
By not following up on Fry's vision, did we have a reaction to an inaction, like that other butterfly in Bolivia? The one that created a tornado in Kansas by not fluttering his wings? Who knows?
I'm starting to ask myself the same questions about switchgrass and other cellulosic feedstocks. Are we letting an important opportunity slip through our fingers? Who knows?
If you'd like to know more about switchgrass, there is tons of material on the Web. All you have to do is google "switchgrass 2005."
A legal battle by mostly Amish farmers to establish an ag security area for their Lancaster County farms may or may not be over. The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court recently ruled in favor of the 12 farmers in East Lampeter Township who want to include their farms in an ag security area. But the township supervisors haven't decided whether or not to appeal. The story of the case was reported by Ryan Robinson, writing in the Lancaster New Era and reprinted in our current edition. The New Era and Lancaster Farming are both owned by Lancaster Newspapers, Inc.
A day in the life of Paris Hilton's pet pig. I don't know about you, but I found this much more interesting than any footage I've ever seen of Paris herself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QXiyqKWmJY
Pitchfork philosophy...Forgive your enemies. It messes with their heads.
