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The land-conversion from forest or grassland into farmland is a surprisingly large effect on the environment. Making Ethanol from natural grasses and keeping t

The land-conversion from forest or grassland into farmland is a surprisingly large effect on the environment. Making Ethanol from natural grasses and keeping the land natural is one of the best things we can do for the environment, as well as creating an alternative means of capturing solar energy. You know... if we can get it to be commercially successful. If we can't sell the darn thing, then it'd never happen. But the theory is sound and enough prototypes have been created that we know how this works.

bumby 3y ago
How much current grassland is used for grazing? Works there be any potential pushback from, say, cattle ranchers who would be otherwise using the land or is there a plentiful amount of otherwise land unused for agriculture?
- dragontamer 3y ago
  > there a plentiful amount of otherwise land unused for agriculture? More like land that "shouldn't" be converted into agricultural lands (or ranches for that matter) I'm not sure if "grazing" is an issue, because the argument is what should we be encouraging our private farmers to be doing. (While "Grazing" questions tend to be a question on public lands IIRC) If you own 100 acres of wilderness, you can cut down all the trees and replace the grass with corn... or maybe you can leave the natural grass and harvest it instead. Natural grass grows wildly, its perfectly suited for the wild environment to grow quickly. Learning how to take advantage of the natural state of American land is a good idea. The question at hand is "is this a _profitable_ idea?" and that remains to be seen. I know they've been working on various chemistry, biofuels, etc. etc. to try to take advantage of natural grasses for a few decades now.
  - bumby 3y ago
    Sorry, I wasn't very clear. My question is more about the grazing on public lands. Meaning, it's already being used for agricultural purposes (ie cattle ranches). But your point makes sense when we're talking about privately held farms and encouraging specific behavior.

bumby 3y ago

How much current grassland is used for grazing? Works there be any potential pushback from, say, cattle ranchers who would be otherwise using the land or is there a plentiful amount of otherwise land unused for agriculture?

dragontamer 3y ago
> there a plentiful amount of otherwise land unused for agriculture? More like land that "shouldn't" be converted into agricultural lands (or ranches for that matter) I'm not sure if "grazing" is an issue, because the argument is what should we be encouraging our private farmers to be doing. (While "Grazing" questions tend to be a question on public lands IIRC) If you own 100 acres of wilderness, you can cut down all the trees and replace the grass with corn... or maybe you can leave the natural grass and harvest it instead. Natural grass grows wildly, its perfectly suited for the wild environment to grow quickly. Learning how to take advantage of the natural state of American land is a good idea. The question at hand is "is this a _profitable_ idea?" and that remains to be seen. I know they've been working on various chemistry, biofuels, etc. etc. to try to take advantage of natural grasses for a few decades now.
- bumby 3y ago
  Sorry, I wasn't very clear. My question is more about the grazing on public lands. Meaning, it's already being used for agricultural purposes (ie cattle ranches). But your point makes sense when we're talking about privately held farms and encouraging specific behavior.