Biofuel Plant Lands Grant To Test No-Till Growing

Highlands EnviroFuels took another step toward building a biofuels plant at U.S. 27 and State Road 70 by securing a $305,000 state grant.

The Florida Energy & Climate Commission awarded the grant for a demonstration project on growing sweet sorghum for conversion into ethanol, Brad Krohn, company president announced.

Meanwhile, John Alleyne, director of the Highlands County Cooperative Extension Service, said nearly 100 people have registered for a biofuels symposium, set for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 5 at the Bert J. Harris Jr. Agricultural Center.

The symposium is attracting not only interested growers, but also potential investors and environmentalists, Alleyne said.

Krohn said the state grant will fund several large-scale field trials on no-tillage growing of sweet sorghum.

Commonly used in row-crop farming in the Midwest, Krohn said, no-till farming is a reduction or complete elimination of plowing the soil to eliminate weeds and prepare fields for planting.

Environmentally friendly herbicides are used to kill weeds, and after harvest the plant stubble is left on the soil's surface, rather than plowing or disking it into the soil, Krohn said. The next crop is planted by seed injection through the stubble.

Krohn said the benefits from no-till farming include greater crop yields, reduced soil erosion, reduced run-off of fertilizers and pesticides, and reduced use of tractor fuel.

The no-till test plots will be grown next to, and compared with, sweet sorghum fields grown with conventional tillage farming.

"This grant demonstrates our commitment to the long-tem, environmentally sustainable production of sweet sorghum for biofuels," Krohn said.

The company has announced plans to begin building the biofuels plant, which will create about 40 jobs, late this year and begin production of 20 million gallons of ethanol per year in 2010. The plant will be designed for expansion into production of 40 million gallons per year.

Another biofuels plant, to be built and run by Massachusetts-based Verenium Biofuels and BP Oil, is planned on the Lykes Brothers ranch off State Road 70, east of U.S. 27. Company officials said the plant will produce up to 36 million gallons per year of cellulosic ethanol and create about 65 jobs.

Alleyne said the demonstration project on no-till farming will give local growers important information.

Sweet sorghum will be a new crop in this area, he said, "and we are looking for the best possible ways to produce the crop and do it in a sustainable way." No-till farming is used effectively in Minnesota and the Pacific Northwest, he said, and the field trials will determine if the practice can also be successful in mid central Florida.