Native Grasses for Biomass Production at High Elevations - Industrial Crops: Breeding for BioEnergy and Bioproducts - page 102

or higher, in the Mountain West typically have unique and variable conditions
typified by dry climates, cold-season precipitation, cold winter temperatures, hot
summers with cool nights, large areas of public land, long distances to markets,
large variations in soil types, variable soil quality such as salinity, changing field
topography, and other factors. Although the average annual precipitation is rela-
tively low, seasonal climate patterns often provide adequate soil moisture and
temperatures for cool-season perennial grasses in the spring and early summer.
Specific areas of this highly varied region provide ideal growing conditions for tall-
statured cool-season grasses.
The higher-elevation environments in many areas of the Mountain West are
limited by the number and type of crops they can produce. Nevertheless, crops and
cropping systems needed to produce low-input herbaceous perennial crops to
support a bioenergy economy in the Mountain West are essentially unknown,
especially for large-scale production [ 2 ].
Recent policies such as the Energy Independence Security Act of 2007 (EISA)
and the second US Renewable Fuel Standards (RFS) have targeted biofuel produc-
tion and domestic energy independence. In contrast to most of the country, the
Mountain West has attracted few biorefineries ( http://www.ethanolrfa.org/bio-refin
ery-locations/ ) and is not expected to provide abundant biofuel development
[ 3 ]. From a cost standpoint, this is not unexpected, due to high-input costs associ-
ated with irrigation water for production and transportation costs of biomass
[ 4 , 5 ]. Overcoming transport distances and water requirements are considered to
be especially challenging for Mountain West biomass production [ 6 ]. The arid
western states are not expected to provide abundant biofuels due in large part to the
difficulty of identifying biomass crops that can sustain success in an arid setting.
However, despite the low EISA projections for the region, energy disruptions and
high energy prices would also presumably affect the Mountain West. Biomass
crops that facilitate energy security on farms in the Mountain West benefit the
region as a whole and make the RFS goals more attainable. Irrespective of the EISA
biofuel mandates and policy targets, if bioenergy crops (grasses or oilseeds) are
shown to be economically feasible for agricultural producers, their commercial
production, and subsequent market development will result.
This chapter is intended to contribute towards developing biomass crop produc-
tion and biofuel markets in the Mountain West with a focus on the potential of cool-
season perennial grass species for biomass production and on modeling the profit-
ability of agronomic production of perennial grasses. Tall-statured, cool-season
perennial grasses including basin wildrye, creeping x basin wildrye hybrids, inter-
mediate wheatgrass, and tall wheatgrass are viable candidates for lignocellulosic
biomass production in this region. While this chapter is charged to focus on native
grasses, we have arguably included grass species that are not native but have
historically been grown in the USA and have been widely used in many applica-
tions. Based on their historic use over a sustained period of time, they are consid-
ered to be naturalized. These naturalized species along with native grass species
have merit for consideration in biomass/bioenergy applications.