permaculture

[Toby Hemenway <toby@patternliteracy.com>]

Sorry, I can see that wasn¹t clear: corn needs 160 lbs per acre of chemical
fertilizer (or thereabouts) added to the soil to maintain yields. The
prairie grass/N-fixer mix needs only 50 lbs added, or less, to maintain
yield. 

Toby
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On 1/27/07 10:12 PM, "John Fritz"  wrote:

> Um, am I missing something here or is 160 not more than 50,...pounds of
> nitrogen per acre that is?
>  
> John Fritz, NW Arkansas.
> 
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2007 06:46:20 -0800
> From: Toby Hemenway
> I'm at an ag conference in Guelph, Ontario and just learned about
> http://www.reap-canada.com
> 
> They harvest prairie biomass in early spring. Dried plants, pelletized and
> burned without the ethanol step. 10:1 ERoEI compared to ethanol's 1:1, and
> the prairie stays intact. 50lbs/acre of nitrogen added instead of corn's
> 160, and as they improve the mix of N-fixers that will improve further.
> Convert all those cornfields back to prairie!
> 
> 
> 
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