Switchgrass field in Oklahoma holds hopes for ethanol alternative

Los Angeles Times
By Murray Evans, The Associated Press
September 24, 2008

Researchers are monitoring a 1,000-acre plot to see whether the native plant can replace corn as an ingredient for the fuel.

GUYMON, OKLA. -- Curtis Raines describes himself as "just a dumb old farmer" who's not afraid to ask an obvious question: Why grow corn for fuel when it could be used to feed hungry people?

"That just doesn't make a lot of sense to me," Raines said.

The 64-year-old Oklahoma Panhandle farmer is growing a 1,000-acre plot of switchgrass, billed as the world's largest of its type, to test whether the native plant can replace corn in making ethanol.

The Oklahoma Bioenergy Center project is designed to find out whether laboratory experiments using switchgrass to make ethanol can be duplicated on a large scale. The crop will help feed a biorefinery plant planned for southwest Kansas.

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