A new European research project seeks grass crops that could
be grown and harvested on marginal lands, away from areas suitable for food
crops
Grass could be used to produce biofuels. The advantage of
using grass crops is that they can be grown in marginal lands that would
otherwise not be used. Marginal lands is a wide definition, admits Susanne
Barth, research Officer at Teagasc, the agriculture and food development
authority research centre, in Carlow, Ireland. “This can be soils that can be
in bad physical condition or prone to flooding, extreme drought or which suffer
from salt stress.” Barth coordinates an EU-funded research project, called
GrassMargins, which is testing out whether grasses could be used as biofuels.