Sustainable Cellulosic Grass Crop Production

This chapter begins by listing some properties that might characterize an ‘ideal, ’ or ‘truly sustainable, ’ energy crop. Then, it provides detailed discussion of the three most prominent individual feedstock crops for warm temperate zones: Arundo donax, Miscanthus spp., and Panicum virgatum. It includes some background on their history, origins and adaptations, and production and sustainability issues and attributes. Next, the chapter addresses harvest and processing issues that have common characteristics across feedstocks to a great degree. Several sustainability issues need addressing when considering herbaceous energy crop production. Water, species diversity, land use, and climate impacts are among the many aspects of energy cropping that need assessment as these systems are deployed. The chapter emphasizes on several salient points about the traditional measures of ‘sustainability’ as they relate to the crops and systems.