Access Illinois Outdoors Begins Miscanthus Test Plot at Pike Pellets
The Access Illinois Outdoors program operated through Two Rivers Resource Conservation & Development Area, Inc. has begun a project to investigate the feasibility of harvesting Miscanthus in order to produce energy in west central Illinois. Pike Pellets is an integral part of the project and has supplied the land to establish a nursery site. Pike Pellets, LLC, is committed toward the production and delivery of high quality Miscanthus pellets. They currently manufacture a high-quality, energy efficient, environmentally friendly, renewable energy source using waste wood products and convert it to a pelletized form for use in heating homes as an alternative, cost effective fuel source. Demand this past year for their wood pellets has dictated increasing their operation to three, twenty-four hour shifts, five days per week. A major growth barrier to Pike Pellets is the limited ability to supply the potential demand. Wood pellet stoves and furnaces are growing in popularity as electricity, petroleum, and natural gas prices rise. Natural disasters and instability in the Middle East are threats that can increase gas prices at any given time. This has led consumers to seek out alternative fuel sources for residential heating and has sharply increased demand for wood pellet stoves and furnaces. The potential opportunity for Miscanthus as a pelleting product presents new supply avenues that are much more environmentally and economically advantageous.
Two Rivers RC&D will also partner with the University of Illinois on this project. Technical assistance is being provided by Gary Letterly, Natural Resources Educator, University of Illinois Extension Service. Letterly will provide invaluable technical assistance from information he has gathered on other ongoing Miscanthus giganteus projects. Letterly has previous experience in Miscanthus research through the Dudley Smith Initiative, which demonstrated the use of Miscanthus as a fuel in a small scale furnace at the University of Illinois Extension office in Christian County.
Miscanthus x giganteus is a sterile perennial grass that grows as tall as 12 feet high and can produce an impressive 12 - 14 tons of biomass per acre annually, according to University of Illinois research. Giant Miscanthus grows vertically more than horizontally, so it does slowly creep but has not invaded adjoining plots. The highly productive variety of Giant Miscanthus does not produce viable seeds, which limits its potential invasiveness.
Being a perennial, Giant Miscanthus requires low management, needs little nitrogen once it has been established and is sustainable. Giant Miscanthus can be harvested with readily available equipment during the winter months or very early spring when producers are usually not as busy as in the planting, growing and harvesting seasons.
Due to a scarcity of Miscanthus rhizomes, the initial effort will be to create a one acre start-up project. This will basically become a field nursery from which rhizomes could be divided each year (usually after the second or third year) and replanted to create a larger base from which to draw propagules. Under ideal conditions, one-year clumps typically yield 7 to 10 harvestable rhizomes and two year clumps yield 25 or more rhizomes. The rhizome crop will be harvested from year 2 onwards, but yields will continue to improve until they level off around the 5th or 6th year.
Funding for this project was made available through Illinois Department of Agriculture Sustainable Agriculture Grant Program.
Agriculture is the major land use and industry in the Two Rivers RC&D area and contributes over $333 million to our economy. This amount may sound impressive, however, our area continues to decline in population and fall far short of the state average for income. Growing high-yielding energy crops could become a third crop for Illinois and elsewhere, while at the same time reduce our dependence on foreign oil to heat and cool our homes, power our farms and factories, and fuel our cars and trucks.