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West Tennessee farmers plant seeds of alternative-fuel future
By Lindsay Melvin
May 10, 2009
On the same sprawling land his great-grandfather once farmed, Jai Templeton, 37, has spent his life harvesting corn, cotton and soybeans.
But on a 5-acre swath of his family's 2,000-acre property in Hardin County, he plans to cultivate a crop believed worthless by generations of Templetons.
If the rain holds out, this week he'll plant switchgrass, in hope that these tall blades that once swallowed the Great Plains will be the economic future of his farm.
"All farmers are looking for alternative ways to better themselves, better their farms," he said.
Templeton is part of the 25Farmer Network, a group of select farmers across West Tennessee planting 5-acre test plots of alternative crops including switchgrass, sweet sorghum and sunflowers.
The pilot program concocted by the Memphis Bioworks Foundation, a nonprofit group that aims to build up science-based industries in Memphis, is testing whether these crops can be converted locally into products used for lubricants, pharmaceuticals, plastics and alternative gasoline.
The biomass industry -- the use of once-living material for industrial production -- is exploding across the Delta region, says Bioworks president Steve Bares.
State government has already invested nearly $70 million in East Tennessee toward research and a facility to produce cellulosic ethanol using switchgrass.
"We want to make sure Memphis gets a piece of that," Bares said.
Last year, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture awarded Bioworks' Agbio initiative $600,000 over two years for the pilot program.
Farmers from 21 counties were selected to help identify renewable resources that could replace petroleum and other extracted minerals for a variety of products.
"What used to be made out of oil, over time is going to be made out of plants," Bares said. "This is the most exciting transition that's happened in agriculture in a long time."
And the Bluff City is the ideal location for a future biomass hub, he said.
Nearby are thousands of acres of farmland, as well as manufacturing plants, distribution centers and shipping companies.
The local climate also allows for a long growing season, which all combined, Bares says could bring a windfall of jobs to Memphis.
"We want to produce a local supply chain here from the farmer to the factory," said Hillary Spain, coordinator for the 25Farmer Network.
With an agriculture background, Spain helped test, at Agricenter International, which of the non-native alternative crops could thrive locally.
Farmers have been given $500 to offset the cost of the test crops.
Once the seedlings start sprouting, samples will be taken to manufacturers for testing and for developing green chemistry.
"Tennessee is definitely one of the leaders in this area in testing out potential crops," said David Bransby, a professor at Auburn University in Alabama.
Bransby has been studying biofuel alternatives, which cut down on carbon emissions and use of fossil fuels, for more than 20 years and believes products like switchgrass will replace half of the oil imported by the U.S. from unstable regions in the next 10 to 20 years.
First, however, it's going take federal legislation supporting biomass farming to truly get it off the ground, he said.
Still, he's optimistic.
"This country can do anything it wants to," he said. "I believe we're close."
The Commercial Appeal
http://www.commercialappeal.com
