Rohwer Research Station to host bio-fuel crops field day
July 9, 2009Contact Information:
Larry Earnest, director, Rohwer Research Station
learnest@uark.edu, 870-644-3101
Kelly Bryant, Southeast Research and Extension Center director
bryantk@uamont.edu, 870-460-1091
Howell Medders, Agricultural Communication Services
hmedders@uark.edu, 479-575-5647.
ROHWER, Ark. — The potential for producing “energy crops” in Southeast Arkansas will be considered at a field day on “Alternative Crops for Bio-Fuel Production” July 30 at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s Rohwer Research Station.
Station Director Larry Earnest said several crops with potential to be grown for use as bio-energy feedstock are being field tested at the Rohwer Research Station on Hwy. 1 just north of the Hwy. 138 intersection. Registration is at 8:30 a.m., tours begin at 9 a.m., lunch will be provided and the program will conclude about 2 p.m.
Renewable alternative fuels have already had a major impact on Arkansas agriculture. Increased demand for corn, soybeans and other oilseeds used for bio-fuel has resulted in higher prices and larger acreages of those crops in the state.
The next generation of bio-fuel technology is expected to use non-food, cellulosic bio-mass, such as the fast-growing grass and tree species being field tested at Rohwer and other Division of Agriculture locations, Earnest said.
Field tests of bioenergy crops are also being conducted at a number of other Division of Agriculture locations, including the Southeast Research and Extension Center at Monticello, Southwest Research and Extension Center at Hope, Lon Mann Cotton Research Center at Marianna, Pine Tree Research Center at Colt, Northeast Research and Extension Center at Keiser, Arkansas Agricultural Research and Extension Center at Fayetteville and in fields of cooperating farmers.
At the Rohwer field day, visitors will tour test plots of potential energy crops and then move indoors to hear reports on the economics, technology and environmental implications of bio-energy crop production.
The research plots and Division of Agriculture project leaders who will discuss them include:
• Switchgrass production, by Chuck West, professor of crop, soil and environmental sciences (CSES), Fayetteville;
• High oil content soybeans, by Bryan Stobaugh, graduate assistant, CSES, Fayetteville;
• Weed control in sunflowers, by Ken Smith, professor of weed science, Southeast Research and Extension Center, Monticello; and
• Weed control in sweet sorghum, by Nilda Burgos, associate professor, CSES, Fayetteville.
Technology, economics and environmental topics and presenters will include:
• Converting bio-mass to bio-crude demonstration, by Sammy Sadaka, extension engineer-biosystems, Cooperative Extension Service, Little Rock;
• Engine performance and efficiency of biodiesel, by Don Johnson, professor of agricultural and extension education, Fayetteville;
• Environmental task force update, by Rob Wiedenmann, entomology department head, and Tara Wood, program associate-entomology, Fayetteville; and
• Cost of production and expected returns, by Michael Popp, professor of agricultural economics and agribusiness, Fayetteville.