New Models for Bioenergy Feedstock Supply and Project Implementation

Nick Jordan Plant Genetics Department

University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

National Agroforestry Center

Nick Jordan, Department of Agronomy & Plant Genetics Carissa Slotterback, Humphrey School of Public Affairs Dr. David Mulla, Department of Soil, Water and Climate Dr. David Pitt, Department of Landscape Architecture Len Kne, U-Spatial

Mike Reichenbach, Extension Bryan Runck, Department of Geography Amanda Sames, Conservation Biology Program Cindy Zerger, Toole Design Group

Agriculture: Transforming & Intensifying

….from a few predominant crops and commodities to a wide array of new foods, feeds, bioproducts and biofuels. …can we capitalize on the potential of this new agriculture to improve environment, economy, well-being?

How? Focus on Sustainable Intensification

2

Agriculture must produce more food,

food security & justice

Agriculture must produce more food & food security

More conservation…amidst

global change

Minnesota Agriculture is Very Efficient & Productive

Our Agriculture could be even more efficient and productive

How: Add winter-annual crops & perennials to summer-annual crops like corn or soybean

Why: New economic opportunities for farmers & rural communities

Many other benefits for Minnesota

Visualization of perennial & annual crops in Central Iowa

Biomass from Annuals & Perennials

• A powerful vehicle for Sustainable Intensification of Corn Belt agriculture?

• More production & more conservation

Key: emerging value-added tech for biomass!

Reactor Reac%on( Expansion(

Ammonia'Recovery'

Raw$Biomass$ Densifica%on(

Biomass$Commodity$

•  Annual & perennial feedstocks •  Increases digestibility to 80+% •  Stable, 8X dense biomass

commodity

AFEXTM Biomass Pretreatment

100 kg m-3 800 kg m-3

Bruce Dale & crew with early AFEX machine

One ton/day pilot AFEX facility at Michigan State University

Corn Stover (often needs cover crop after stover harvest?)

Prairie Cordgrass

Native biomass sources

Big Bluestem

Maximilian Sunflower

Native Polyculture

Soil-Conditioning Treatment Plots: Year II

Native Mixtures Switchgrass

ISU Extension

USDA ARS

Triticale-Sorghum

Corn-Rye

Biomass from winter-hardy annuals & summer annuals

10-13 tons/acre Can fit in annual rotations

Biomass sorghum in Texas

Miscanthus giganteus 8-10 tons/acre upland sites fixes nitrogen/low N needs? active breeding/agronomy efforts non-native

Social value from locally-owned processing •  Sited like grain

elevators

•  Use many feedstocks

•  Retain value in local communities: owned by producer coops?

•  Market to livestock farmers OR biorefineries

Getting There from Here: How? AFEX depends on developing new production systems & supply/value

chains

KSU Extension

Local Biomass Preprocessing Depots (LBPDs) Landscape Design can help identify biomass production systems that provide a stable, reliable biomass supply & more conservation!

Our Agriculture Can Be Even More Efficient & Productive Biomass from Annuals & Perennials:

• Creates value from underused resources

• Enhances soil, water, wildlife & biodiversity

• Insures against climate variability

BUT…

what Biomass from

where?

Application Seven Mile Creek Watershed Building a Community- based Bioeconomy

Engaging diverse stakeholders Examining information – food, biomass, water quality, habitat Identifying values Designing for biomass production Exploring tradeoffs, prospects for win-win

24,000 acres

Application Workshop series with stakeholders

Agriculture, conservation, & governance stakeholders Initial workshops – framing/data on production, dialogue on issues and values

Latter workshops – active geodesign with visualization, landscape design, evaluation

Application Examining information and identifying values Productive capacity – food, biomass

Environmental impacts – water quality, habitat

Local knowledge

Translating values into criteria for landscape design

win + win + win + win

Application Designing for biomass with Geodesign

Goal: More commodities and more conservation from working agricultural landscapes

Collaborative Geodesign allows for active, real-time engagement with information, place, + people Carl Steinitz. 2012. A Framework for Geodesign:

Changing Geography by Design. Redlands, CA: ESRI

Application Designing for biomass with Geodesign Geodesign system 55” touchscreens Multiple orientation + data layers Users control presence + transparency of layers Users design with multiple practices Images of visual appearance of practices Instantaneous performance feedback Allows multiple iterations

Roads + water features Section boundaries Land cover + topography Watershed boundaries Restorable wetlands Habitat quality Soil erosion + water quality contamination susceptibility Crop productivity

Total suspended solids Phosphorus Total runoff Habitat quality Carbon sequestration Financial profitability

Conservation tillage Low phosphorus Stover harvest Native prairie Switchgrass

GeoDesign System Components

Designing for biomass with Collaborative Geodesign

Group 2 Final Design

Collaborative Geodesign task: 10,000 acres of biomass in 75,000 acre region

Landscape design tool in action…

http://youtu.be/LoD6KsLShs0

Design performance

Outcomes Application Deliberation + design activities increased participants’ belief in the potential value of working agricultural landscapes for sustainable intensification Increased perceptions of trust + shared understanding with other stakeholders

Workshops viewed as legitimate, credible forum for exploring prospect of sustainable bioeconomy

Outcomes Application Participant feedback:

These workshops were like a fast-forward for the evolution of a conversation – from the very

simplistic agriculture-vs.-environment conflict to a much more nuanced,

complicated and respectful understanding of costs, benefits, trade-offs and perspectives surrounding the potential of biomass production to be a driving force of positive outcomes for

multiple interests”

Process resulted in

thinking deeper about equilibrium

between environment/

economy

Process facilitated

thinking about all systems

and how integrated they

are

Helped see prospect of

multiple benefits from one practice

Next Steps Seven Mile Creek Watershed Building a Community- based Bioeconomy

Build on stakeholder engagement + design for biomass Design supply chain Address sustainable stover harvest

Advance cover crop technology

Assess policy impacts

Pursue community economic development benefits

Exploring tradeoffs, prospects for win-win

Thank you! Questions?

Additional project team members: Dr. David Mulla, Department of Soil, Water and Climate Dr. David Pitt, Department of Landscape Architecture Len Kne, U-Spatial Mike Reichenbach, Extension Bryan Runck, Department of Geography Amanda Sames, Conservation Biology Program Cindy Zerger, Toole Design Group

Funding provided by: USDA-NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant Program Office of the Vice President for Research Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment Institute on the Environment

What’s the Story? A case study of sustainable development Widely seen as complex/wicked problem, requiring transdisciplinarity, civic engagement… What does it look like to try to do those things in practice?