
Perennial bioenergy crop (left) planted on marginal lands compared to corn (right). Credit: ANL
Growing native grasses for bioenergy and nutrient runoff reduction on marginal lands
Agricultural production in the Midwest has been associated with nutrient resource losses through water, causing eutrophication in Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds, local impairment of drinking water sources, and Gulf Hypoxia.
Greenleaf provided communications, development, and outreach for Argonne National Laboratory on its agricultural research in Illinois where they study the growth of native grasses in otherwise unproductive farmland to produce bioenergy crops, thereby reducing nutrient pollutant flows into streams and sequestering greenhouse gases in soils.
The Illinois research project focused on growing biofuel crops in degraded agricultural lands that reduce water pollution as well as greenhouse gases. The biofuel crops can generate energy for the local farm or be used in the marketplace. At the field scale, results show significant reductions of nitrate concentrations underneath a willow contour buffer compared to the adjacent corn.