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| Coming to a Field Near You - Switchgrass February 19, 2008 18:36:19 Sounds kinda nice doesn't it. Big fields of waving grass across the landscape replacing the corn and soybean desert. But, you know what, I was reading in a farm magazine today an article about the production of ethanol from switchgrass and guess what, the agribusiness industry is right there talking about applying herbicide and fertilizer to this crop the same way they dump it on their current darling, corn. You bet. There won't be any change in agricultural practices and I am sure farmers will buy it lock stock and barrel. The more you poison the whole thing the more you get out of it. Switchgrass is a plant that is native to the North American Prairie. You would think it would grow pretty good here in the Midwest. It is a perennial plant which means you don't have to plant it every year. It grows on its own. But, I am sure that the agribusiness/chemical industry will pervert this plant so they can control its use and make it so it requires the use of their products. One thing I thought of was if a farmer took his switchgrass crop to a processor they would discount their payment to him if it had weeds in it thus encouraging the use of herbicides. There probably will be a campaign to discredit any native varieties. Maybe even develop varieties that are susceptible to some type of pest so it requires the use of insecticides. Or better yet, develop a high yielding variety that somehow is no longer a perennial and needs to be replanted each year. I think there is no end to the machinations of this industry. We are looking at the chance to remove from row crop cultivation millions of acres and stop the use of all the chemicals used to grow those crops. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. Comment on this article | |