Bioenergy Cropping on Marginal Lands with Dr. Dileepa Jayawardena
\u201cComparative productivity of six bioenergy cropping systems on marginal lands in the Great Lakes Region, USA\u201d with Dileepa Jayawardena.
Bioenergy crops present a promising source for biofuel production, offering a potential solution to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. However, they face criticism for potentially encroaching on arable land essential for food production to sustain growing populations. To address this issue, there is a growing focus on utilizing marginal lands for growing bioenergy crops, which are less suitable for crop production. Marginal lands typically suffer from poor soil health and low nutrient and water availability. Therefore, it is crucial to identify and develop bioenergy crops that can thrive in such conditions and produce biomass for biofuel production while also confirming which marginal lands are best suited to these uses.\xa0 In this episode, Dileepa Jayawardena, a Research Associate at The Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, Michigan State University, sheds light on his research aimed at finding suitable bioenergy cropping systems for marginal lands in Michigan and Wisconsin for producing biomass for long-term bioenergy production while minimizing the competition of land for food crops.\xa0
Tune in to learn more about
\xb7\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 What are bioenergy crops?
\xb7\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 What is the importance of bioenergy crops?
\xb7\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Why marginal lands can be suitable for bioenergy crops?
\xb7\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Which cropping system is better for marginal lands?
\xb7\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 How to make sustainable biofuel production?
If you would like more information about this topic, this episode\u2019s paper is available here:\xa0https://doi.org/10.1002/agj2.21416
This paper is always freely available.
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If you would like to reach out to Dileepa Jayawardena, you can find them here: jayawar7@msu.edu
https://www.canr.msu.edu/people/dileepa-jayawardena
If you would like to reach out to Anthony Mirabito, you can find him here:
Anthony.Mirabito@ucf.edu
Resources
\xa0CEU Quiz: https://web.sciencesocieties.org/Learning-Center/Courses/Course-Detail?productid=%7b3F327C62-2207-EF11-9F89-6045BD01BFE7%7d\xa0
Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center: https://www.glbrc.org/
Special thanks to Om Prakash Ghimire for help on the shownotes and other assets.
Field, Lab, Earth is Copyrighted by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.