Cashing in on bioeconomy
Oct 28, 2009 11:06 AM, By Elton Robinson, Farm Press Editorial Staff
If a Mid-South bioeconomy grows into a mature industry, you might see more winter crops being grown, a reduction in pastureland, small changes in crop mix during the summer season and quite a number of biorefineries dotting the rural landscape.
According to the experts, whether or not this new look will be good for farmers depends a lot on who owns the biorefineries. If they are owned by farmers and farmer cooperatives, farmers can capture added value from them. If somebody else owns them, agriculture’s economic health probably won’t benefit as much.
To make sure the money ends up in agriculture’s pockets means the entire agriculture community needs to start thinking about its role today, say Pete Nelson and Randy Powell, with BioDimensions, whose task it is to bring biomass producers and processors together.
“We need to build a whole new supply chain, literally putting factories in the fields, with farmers supplying the feedstock for commercial fuels and other products,” said Powell. “This supply chain does not exist today. It’s going to be challenging and it’s going to require a lot of partnerships and collaboration.”
“There are some big companies looking to come here,” added Nelson, founder of BioDimensions. “Do we let them come here, set up and contract out to us to supply a fixed price for materials? Or do we develop supply chains that we have value in?”
The way to get farmers warmed up to the idea might be different in each state, according to Nelson.
“In Tennessee, we used our Extension agents across Tennessee to bring farmers together. We had a little bit of state money to mitigate their risk. We didn’t want to work with anyone who wasn’t ready to lead in this area.”
The result was the 25Farmer Network, “who are essentially business partners with us,” Nelson said. “We’re trying to get the farmers involved early so they can understand what will work and what may not work in our region.”
Nelson says that every study on the Mid-South bioeconomy has shown that biorefineries should be decentralized. “We’re not going to be able to shift biomass very far from where you grow the crop.”
One reason for that is the low-bulk density of biomass crops, according to Powell. “If you’re trying to move rice hulls or whatever, the low bulk density will cost you too much money in transportation. So the factories have to be where you grow the crop in rural locations.”
