Farmers located around the new Project LIBERTY Cellulosic Ethanol Plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa will provide nearly 770 tons of corn biomass annually as the feedstock for production. B.J. Schany ) is POET Commodity Manager and farms seven miles from the plant. He says he’s contracted his corn stover bales with the ethanol plant because of the premium he’ll receive.
As far as the concerns regarding the loss of organic matter and nutrients by removing biomass from the field…he says they’re unwarranted.
Schany says they’re collecting biomass within a 30 to 40 mile radius of the plant. Farmers leave their bales in the field until they are needed for production and then they’re picked up by the plant.