GoodFuels

Sustainability Study

Everyone talks about sustainability, but a new report may help us actually do something about it.

The Keystone Alliance, a coalition of producer organizations, conservation and environmental groups, university experts, and major crop technology and food companies, has devised a definition of economic and environmental sustainability focusing on “meeting the needs of the present while improving the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

The group released a report this week that examined U.S. ag resource efficiency in corn, cotton, soybean and wheat production from 1987 through 2007, measuring land use, soil loss, irrigation water use, net carbon emissions and energy use.

The initial findings show dramatic progress in those 20 years. Corn growers in particular posted impressive gains, boosting per-acre productivity by 41 percent while reducing per-bushel land use by 37 percent, per-bushel soil losses by nearly 70 percent, and water use an average of 27 percent per bushel. Energy use dropped an estimated 3 percent per acre and 37 percent per bushel, with greenhouse gas emissions down 8 percent per acre and 30 percent per bushel.

This is important to stress – corn growers have reduced the amount of land required to produce the same number of bushels by almost 40 percent in the last 20 years. That is phenomenal. With land use being one of the primary issues facing the ethanol industry right now, this is a vital point to be made.

It is interesting that the diverse group behind what is being called “Field to Market, the Keystone Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture” includes not only the major agricultural organizations and companies, but also the Grocery Manufacturers Association and several other major food companies that have actively opposed the use of crops to make fuel. This work could prove that it is indeed possible to produce both food and fuel sustainably.