Switchgrass Could Be Big In 2007 Farm Bill
16 May 2007 Citing rising gasoline prices, Harkin declared the importance of promoting biofuel development, in part by expanding the 2002 farm bill’s energy title. Pushing for what he terms “a much more ambitious energy title” in the new farm law, Harkin announced that when his committee begins marking up a bill in June, he may even start with this.
The Senator argued on Tuesday, May 14, that payments to Great Plains farmers could benefit and encourage them to grow prairie grasses, the cellulose of which would be turned into ethanol; while Southern cotton farmers could profit from raising switchgrass. "Switchgrass … may not be a commodity now but in the next five to 10 years it could be a very big commodity," Harkin said.
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