New MSU Research Shows How Biofuel Crops Can Help Mitigate Climate Change When Grown on Land of Otherwise Little Agricultural Value

by Cameron Rudolph (Michigan State University) Newly published research from MSU Foundation Professor Bruno Basso shows how some Midwest farmers can see economic and environmental benefits of growing switchgrass, a biofuel crop, on traditionally less-productive land. --

Newly published Michigan State University research details how switchgrass, a biofuel crop, can mitigate effects of climate change when grown on marginal land — agricultural land of little value. For farmers, it may also provide economic returns in these otherwise unproductive spaces.

The team was led by Bruno Basso, an MSU Foundation Professor in the departments of Earth and Environmental Sciences, and Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences, as well as the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station. Seungdo Kim, an associate research professor in the MSU College of Engineering, and Rafael Martinez-Feria, a postdoctoral researcher in Basso’s laboratory, were also involved.

Lignocellulosic biofuels, which are made from plant biomass, are one of the only current renewable energy sources with potential as an fuel alternative for vehicles. But fossil fuel problems aren’t easily solved by simply planting more biofuel crops such as switchgrass.

“Growing enough to use biofuel crops for the transportation sector at a large scale would require massive land use changes,” Basso said.

The challenge is magnified when farmers consider what to do with marginal, less-productive land. With rising input costs, there is often little to no advantage to plant in these areas. If growers do decide to plant, environmental issues abound, as these fields are often nitrogen-deficient and may require heavy use of fertilizers.

For this project, Basso and his team used a multi-model ensemble of crop simulation systems that factor in soil, weather and management data. These included three models from previous studies and Basso’s System Approach to Land Use Sustainability (SALUS) program, which simulates daily crop production over many years using different management strategies.

Basso’s team discovered that low amounts of nitrogen fertilizer provided long-term boosts in yield that outweighed greenhouse gas emissions, a finding that runs contrary to other studies. Researchers believe the benefit can be much greater on lands limited by nitrogen deficiency, which is the case in several areas of Michigan. Basso noted that the use of this strategy is not as effective in areas with rich soil organic carbon or those with low precipitation and short growing seasons.

“This shows that some marginal lands lacking nitrogen have potential value for biofuel crop production, which is of interest to farmers looking to increase profitability and of environmental importance by reducing the carbon footprint of the operation,” Basso said. “It’s important that when trying to solve a problem we don’t create another, so the levels of added nitrogen fertilizer are crucial to maintaining the overall net-positive climate result.” READ MORE

R A Martinez-Feria et al, Boosting climate change mitigation potential of perennial lignocellulosic crops grown on marginal lands, Environmental Research Letters (2022). DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ac541b