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The Promise and Peril of Biofuels

Posted on: Tuesday, 23 October 2007, 06:00 CDT

By Cox, Craig A

The conservation implications of our drive to increase production of biofuels-ethanol, biodiesel, and other liquid fuels-was a major topic of conversation at our recent Soil and Water Conservation Society annual conference in Tampa. In concurrent and plenary sessions, in the hallways, and in meeting rooms, conservationists discussed and sometimes argued about the wisdom of emphasizing biofuels as solutions to our energy and greenhouse gas challenges. I've said in previous columns that I think water and energy will be the conservation challenges that drive our profession in this century. How we meet or don't meet those challenges will have profound implications for our economy, our society, and our environment. Water, energy, and soil are inextricably linked, and biofuel production is right in the middle of that web. No wonder conservationists have been talking and arguing about biofuels. Here is what I took away from the conversations in Tampa.

First, we have been here before. The high commodity prices, intensification of production, and expansion of crop acres that we see today are reminiscent of the 1970s. I remember the 1970s well because that is when I started in conservation. I also remember the soil and water resource degradation that accompanied the high prices and fence row-to-fence row policies of that period. We are in a much better position today to protect soil and water resources as production intensifies thanks to new technology and conservation systems. Still, there is reason for concern.

The National Resources Inventory indicates little or no progress in reducing soil erosion since 1997. Over 100 million acres of cropland are eroding above tolerable levels. If we include ephemeral gully erosion in those estimates and include degradation of water quality and aquatic resources in our calculations, I fear the number of acres eroding at "unsustainable" rates would be much larger than 100 million acres.

We need to run faster to meet the soil and water conservation challenges we face today. We will have to run even faster to keep up as production intensifies to meet demands for food, fiber, fuel, and water from our working farms and ranches.

We will need to run faster still to meet these conservation challenges in the face of a more variable and riskier climate. That is the second thing I took away from the conversations in Tampa. Conference participants reminded me that we must consider the promise and peril of biofuels in the context of climate change. More frequent and more severe storms and/or droughts, changes in the timing and seasons in which rain or snowfall occurs, and changes in crop growth and plant cover are already evident in many parts of the United States, Canada, and the globe according to a recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

SWCS recently brought together experts from the United States and Canada to evaluate the implications of such climate changes on the way we plan and implement conservation, using the Great Lakes as a case study. Workshop participants concluded that climate change could spark a "downward spiral" of self-reinforcing changes in soil erosion, hydrologic cycles, and aquatic ecosystems. Participants called for intensified conservation efforts to increase the capacity of agricultural landscapes to resist and recover from severe events.

Here is where the promise of biofuels comes in, the third thing I heard in Tampa. Moving to cellulosic feed stocks to produce biofuels could help increase the resistance and resilience of farming systems and agricultural watersheds. Dedicated, perennial energy crops grown in the right places on the landscape could build soil quality, repair hydrologic function, protect stream channels, create habitat, and prevent pollution. A market for biomass could lead to use of cover crops, intercropping, agroforestry, and other conservation systems with real benefits for producers, resources, and the environment. The biomass market could revolutionize the way we farm and bring with it unprecedented improvements in soil, water, and air quality, aquatic resources, and local economies. And some of my colleagues told me they expect the transition to cellulosic feed stocks to happen soon.

Opinions about the wisdom of biofuels were strongly held and sometimes at odds among our conference participants. Some saw mostly peril; some saw mostly promise. Nearly everyone agreed that in the short term the biggest challenge is to ensure the intensification of grain production to meet ethanol mandates doesn't lead to the same kind of resource degradation we saw in the 1970s.

Harvesting corn stover-to be converted to ethanol or to fuel the boilers in ethanol plants-will dramatically increase the risk of soil and water degradation unless substantial additional measures are taken to increase soil cover and return organic matter to the soil. In another echo of the 1970s, I heard a lot of talk about conservation compliance as a way to ensure a basic level of soil and water protection as grain production ramps up.

Conservationists must be at the table as choices are made that will set the direction the biofuel industry will take in the future. Federal and state governments are investing billions of taxpayers' dollars to support development of a biofuel industry. How that support is provided will influence how, where, and what kind of feed stocks are grown. A participant in the plenary session on biofuels suggested we scale subsidies to biofuels based on how well a particular fuel reduces greenhouse gas emissions and conserves natural resources. This was one of the most interesting ideas I heard at the conference.

One thing is certain. SWCS will stay engaged in the debate over biofuels. You will hear a lot more about this issue at our 2008 annual conference in Tucson, and we are making plans for special conferences and activities on the topic. Our goal is make sure we harvest the promise and avoid the peril of biofuels.

The high commodity prices, intensification of production, and expansion of crop acres that we see today are reminiscent of the 1970s.

We must consider the promise and peril of biofuels in the context of climate change.

A market for biomass could lead to use of cover crops, intercropping, agroforestry, and other conservation systems with real benefits for producers, resources, and the environment.

Conservationlsts must be at the table as choices are made that will set the direction the biofuel industry will take in the future.

Craig A. Cox, executive director of the Soil and Water Conservation Society

Source: Journal of Soil and Water Conservation

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