6-13 IAN Miscanthus

A solution to cap and trade and our environment and global warming and fuel problems and…I’m David Sparks, I’ll be right back.

You know what keeps coming up. Miscanthus which is a tall grass that is easily grown, doesn’t need much water or good soil. But it’s grown as an energy crop to put in your gas tank…not food. It also has another benefit…carbon sequestration. . I talked with Dr. Madhu Khanna, a professor of agricultural and consumer economics at U. of I about miscanthus. “It can sequester a lot of carbon in its root system under the soil. If you factor in the total amount of  benefits for greenhouse gas mitigation it turns out to produce a net loss for carbon not a source for carbon as opposed to corn, even if we do conservation tillage, it sequesters somewhat but something like .1 ton of carbon per hectacre / year whereas miscanthus does 10 times as much it sequesters 1 ton of carbon per hectacre / year. You also need much less fertilizer and other carbon intensive inputs.