Alcohol production from corn: Compatible with soil conservation?

ABSTRACT:

Alcohol production from corn grain at the levels set as goals by the Energy Security Act (about 10 billion gallons) would require 3.3 billion additional bushels of corn to be grown in the United States, much of it on land previously in soybeans. But some corn would be grown on marginal land that is considered to have “high potential” for conversion. Close to half of this marginal land is erosive, and the production of corn needed for alcohol increases this erosive potential. It is possible, however, to produce alcohol from corn grain at the 6-, 8-, 10-, or even 12-billion-gallon level without increasing soil loss if soil-conserving farming techniques are employed. Farmers would have to switch almost completely from moldboard plowing in the fall. Use of minimum tillage in conjunction with other conservation practices, such as contouring, striporopping, and terracing, would be needed to counteract the increased erosion caused by large-scale alcohol production from corn grain (6-12 billion gallons per year). Because it leaves the soil surface unprotected, removal of corn residue for alcohol production is even more erosive. Even if farmers switched completely from fall plowing, and increasingly adapted conservation practices, soil loss could increase by 18 percent if corn residue were harvested to meet alcohol production goals of 12 billion gallons by the year 2000.