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Helping Put South Carolina in the BioFuels Race
| Name | Robert E. Bett | | Situation | With great focus on Biofuels, we need to develop a way for our growers to profit from this growing demand. We are not able to compete with the Midwest when it comes to growing corn. We must look at another feedstock that we can grow competitively—Switch grass. | | Response | The county agent put together a team who has the expertise in the many areas needed to develop a “Switch grass for Ethanol industry” in South Carolina. This project will involve an interdisciplinary team of researchers and educators. We have the following areas of specialty on the team---Soil Scientist, Plant Pathologist, Entomologist, Ag Economist, Wildlife Biologist & Economist, Crop Production and Physiologist, Ag Engineer, Environmental Scientist, Rural Sociologist, and SC Institute of
Energy Studies. Plus, my purpose on the team is for education and outreach. With the wide range of specialty of every member on this team, we will be able to take the project from start to finish. Currently, we are starting our research on the production of switch grass at the Pee Dee REC. We have applied for a $968,000 grant that will allow us to start the work on the process of using switch grass as a feedstock and the many scientific and economic aspects of this process in the production of Ethanol. | | Impact | The South Carolina growers will be able to profit from the growing use of Ethanol. They can do this by growing switch grass, which is more suited for this area than corn. And we continue to look for alternative crops for tobacco. |
Last update4/24/2008
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