Biomass Grass Crop Options for Energy in Missouri

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

10:00 am to 1:00 pm

Bradford Research and Exension Center

4968 Rangeline Road (driving directions)

Columbia, MO

Farmers, extension and agency staff, and agribusiness leaders are invited to a special meeting to discuss the opportunities and challenges of using perennial grass crops to produce biomass energy. These new opportunities in Missouri have developed in part because of the awarding of several million dollars in USDA Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) funding to assist Missouri farmers with planting costs of selected biomass crops (beginning 2012) and to subsidize the price paid by the private sector for each ton of delivered biomass. In central and southwest Missouri, BCAP funding has been awarded for planting tens of thousands of acres of giant Miscanthus beginning in 2012, with contracts offered by MFA Oil Biomass. In western Missouri and extending to central Missouri, BCAP funds have also been awarded to support planting and harvest of perennial prairie species for delivery to the Show Me Energy farm cooperative (Centerview, MO).

Agenda
10:00 - 11:30 am
• Dr. Emily Heaton, Iowa State University will speak on “Miscanthus Production Practices: a New Missouri Bioenergy Crop”
• Dr. Newell Kitchen, USDA-ARS, Columbia, MO, will speak on “Local yields and experiences with switchgrass and Miscanthus in central MO”

11:30 - Lunch - complimentary catered lunch (to join the lunch please RSVP to Kristi Perry at perrykk@missouri.edu or 573-882-0085 so we can get an accurate meal count)

12:00 - 1:00 Panel presentation and discussion on challenges and opportunities with biomass grasses:
- Jerry Kaiser, NRCS Plant Materials center, Elsberry, MO
- Rob Kallenbach, Forage Extension Specialist, University of Missouri
- Emily Heaton, Biomass Agronomist, Iowa State University

Dr. Emily Heaton will also give a presentation on her research experience with Miscanthus at the University of Missouri campus on Monday, December 5, from 3-4 pm in the Monsanto Auditorium, Bond Life Sciences Center (park in Virginia Avenue garage).

Program sponsored by USDA-ARS and University of Missouri Extension. For more information on the program, contact Dr. Newell Kitchen