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Posted: 12:57 pm Fri, October 18, 2013 By Todd Nelson University of Minnesota researchers are working to domesticate a perennial grain crop known as intermediate wheatgrass that one day could appear in your car’s fuel tank, your pantry or even distinctive new craft brews. Intermediate wheatgrass, which is related to wheat, rye and barley, has the potential to be the first perennial crop to produce both biomass for energy and grain for food, according to Donald Wyse, a professor of agronomy and plant genetics in the University of Minnesota’s College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences. “It’s a species that has a wide range of possibilities,” Wyse said of intermediate wheatgrass, which also has value as forage for cattle. “To get this material out there it has to have that level of flexibility, it has to create some profit for somebody for that to happen.” As a biofuel, intermediate wheatgrass straw is a promising northern-climate alternative to switchgrass, a warm season perennial, according to a report from the U of M’s Center for Integrated Natural Resources and Agricultural Management, which Wyse co-directs. Perennial grain biofuel crops such as intermediate wheatgrass also offer significant environmental benefits, including reducing soil erosion and the release of soil carbon, Wyse said. Further, they require less energy, pesticide and fossil-fuel based fertilizer to produce than annual grain crops. Intermediate wheatgrass, however, faces the same market challenge as many other biofuel sources, Wyse said, in the form of cheap natural gas. “This plant produces a lot of biomass,” Wyse said. “As renewable fuels develop, we’re there, we’re ready to go. This plant would fit directly into that supply, but that’s not going to carry it. You know how much they want to pay for biomass — they’re not going to pay very much.” To overcome that, Wyse and other researchers are working to improve intermediate wheatgrass as a food source, concentrating on increasing both yield and seed size. A primary aim is to produce a perennial grain that will compete with annual crops such as corn, soybeans and wheat. “The grain’s going to carry the system,” Wyse said. “Because it’s competing for land you’re planting corn, soybeans and wheat on, so it has to have close to that same yield and return on investment.” Intermediate wheatgrass already has drawn interest from three food companies, including a major one based in the Twin Cities, and from five breweries, based both in Minnesota and in California, Wyse said. Food companies see potential in building product lines that incorporate intermediate wheatgrass and tout its environmental benefits, Wyse said. Specialty food marketers, meanwhile, believe they can charge a premium for intermediate wheatgrass-based products, citing the environmental positives and the potential to produce the grain organically. One hundred acres of intermediate wheatgrass have been planted at the U of M’s Rosemount Research and Outreach Center, and researchers are giving away the seed to food companies to evaluate, Wyse said. “We’re working with a company that’s interested in making a food product out of this grain that’s currently being grown at Rosemount,” Wyse said. “They’re looking at developing a product over the next year. They’re hoping to have enough grain produced from that 100 acres to do a small release of a product on a really limited basis next year.” Craft brewers already have tested intermediate wheatgrass in new brews, Wyse said. “These small breweries that are developing around the country, they’re looking for uniqueness,” Wyse said. “We’re hearing back from brewers that it produces a nice flavor in the beer that their customers really like. They’re really excited about it.” The intermediate wheatgrass development project received a $695,000 grant in 2011 from the U of M’s Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment. Food companies are handling product development costs, Wyse said, adding that he expected at least one to invest in the work. He estimated that the effort would need $250,000 a year over the next five years to continue genetic and environmental research on the plant, although he emphasized that today’s lines are ready for commercial use. “We need another five to six years to put the best product out there in the landscape and into the marketplace but the materials now are adequate for consideration in the food system and they’re more than ideal for producing the (environmental benefits) we would expect,” Wyse said. “And obviously, the biomass could also be used as the technology develops.” Collaborating in the research is the plant breeder Lee DeHaan of the Land Institute, a Kansas-based nonprofit, who has been studying intermediate wheatgrass for a decade and was a graduate student of Wyse. DeHaan said he is focusing on developing intermediate wheatgrass plants that produce larger seeds and higher seed yield, which would improve its harvestability and boost potential biofuel use. “If we can get the system to yield a maximal amount of grain, then the biomass will become relatively affordable, because then it’s just a byproduct of the grain production system and only has to cover the cost of harvesting it to make a profit,” Wyse said. “We need to get the grain part working, then the biomass part can follow, whether it’s converted to a liquid fuel, burned or put into a cow.” Read more: http://finance-comme…/#ixzz2iLqGcGkh Taylor Scott International
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