Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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Food Vs. Fuel: Growing Grain for Food Is More Energy Efficient
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100419172855.htm
   ScienceDaily (Apr. 20, 2010) — Using productive farmland to grow crops for 
food instead of fuel is more energy efficient, Michigan State University 
scientists concluded, after analyzing 17 years' worth of data to help settle 
the food versus fuel debate. "It's 36 percent more efficient to grow grain 
for food than for fuel," said Ilya Gelfand, an MSU postdoctoral researcher 
and lead author of the study. "The ideal is to grow corn for food, then leave 
half the leftover stalks and leaves on the field for soil conservation and 
produce cellulosic ethanol with the other half."
   Other studies have looked at energy efficiencies for crops over shorter 
time periods, but this MSU study is the first to consider energy balances of 
an entire cropping system over many years. The results are published in the 
April 19 online issue of the journal Environmental Science & Technology.
   "It comes down to what's the most efficient use of the land," said Phil 
Robertson, University Distinguished Professor of crop and soil sciences and 
one of the paper's authors. "Given finite land resources, will it be more 
efficient to use productive farmland for food or fuel? One compromise would 
be to use productive farmland for both -- to use the grain for food and the 
other parts of the plant for fuel where possible. Another would be to reserve 
productive farmland for food and to grow biofuel grasses -- cellulosic 
biomass -- on less productive land."
   He, Gelfand and Sieglinde Snapp, another co-author and an MSU associate 
professor of crop and soil sciences, analyzed data collected from 1989 to 
2007 at the W.K. Kellogg Long Term Ecological Research site. That National 
Science Foundation-funded project studies ecology and environmental biology 
to provide a better understanding of both natural and managed systems. It is 
the only agricultural program in the 26-site NSF national LTER network.
   The scientists compared the energy inputs and outputs of producing corn, 
soybeans and wheat grown using four systems: conventional tillage, no-till, 
low chemical input and organic, and then using all harvested plant material 
for either food or biofuel production. They also looked at energy balances 
for growing alfalfa, an important forage plant that can be used either for 
biofuel or for beef cattle feed.
   The analysis showed that using no-till production to grow grain for food 
was the most energy-efficient system for food or fuel production. Avoiding 
plowing with no-till management reduces tractor fuel use during production.
   Producing a kilogram of corn for human food provides more energy than 
converting the corn to either ethanol by processing or to meat by feeding it 
to animals. Growing alfalfa for biofuel is 60 percent more efficient than 
using it as cattle feed, according to the study.