What is switchgrass? Switchgrass, is a perennial warm season bunchgrass native to North America, where it occurs naturally. While some folks would characterize switchgrass as a weed, Zulfi Jahufer who is a senior research scientist in genetics and plant breeding at the AgResearch Grasslands Research Centre in Palmerston North in New Zealand, says absolutely not. Dr. Jahufer is a huge fan of switchgrass as a plant that helps soil and water conservation and as a plant that can be used for biomass. "It is a native grass in the United States. It is not a weed.If you go back to a lot of these species like rye grass, the weed breeders say, what are you doing, you are breeding a weed and for them it is a weed because it is among their weed plants but ryegrass is extremely important for livestock to graze but again, it depends on how you look at it. The beauty of it is that you are making use of a native species in the United States to actually produce biofuels and also to act as a soil and water conservation type of role for. The beauty of it is that it is not a species that has been imported into the United States and you are trying to domesticate it. It has all the characteristics needed to perform in your environment so it is great to be making use of a native species." Switchgrass is one of the dominant species of the central North American tallgrass prairie.