Aloterra Energy, a Texas-based company with more than 18,000 acres planted to biomass in Pennsylvania, Arkansas, and Missouri, is hoping local farmers will help grow its energy efforts into Upstate New York.
Aloterra reps were expected at SUNY Cobleskill yesterday to talk about their plans for miscanthus giganteus, a bunch grass they believe could be a money-maker in Schoharie, Greene, and Delaware Counties
Tonight, Wednesday, they'll be at the Agroforestry Resource Center, 6055, Route 23 in Acra, Greene County, to expand on those plans.
According to Matt Griswold, Aloterra senior vice president and chief financial officer, miscanthus is a 14-15-foot perennial grass that's already being used to manufacture pellets for heat in Europe.
Once the miscanthus already planted in Pennsylvania, Arkansas and Missouri matures-it takes two years--Mr. Griswold said Aloterra will begin manufacturing pellets, packaging, and something that looks like particle board from the versatile woody plant in 2014.
Mr. Griswold said Aloterra believes there's enough available land in this region-much of it old dairy farms-to plant 4,000 acres of miscanthus to start and possibly as much as 50,000 acres of it down the road.
Aloterra plans to establish a New York State Biomass Crop Assistance Program through the USDA to help defray the costs to farmers willing to establish the new crop and would purchase the baled grass from farmers, he said, Mr. Griswold said.
Additionally, they'd build a manufacturing plant likely in the Hudson Valley; a reasonable distance to transport the bales is about 50-75 miles.
"Right now, we're in the very early stages," Mr. Griswold said. "It's exploratory. What we want to know right now is whether people are interested."
Farmers who missed Wednesday's meeting and have questions or want more information can contact David Cox at the Cooperative Extension, 234-4303, or Mick Bessire at the Agroforestry Center, 622-9830, extension 0.
Mr. Griswold said miscanthas resembles bamboo and is often used as an ornamental.
It yields twice the tonnage as traditional crops like hay, is left to dry standing over the winter before being harvested before it starts growing again in the spring, and most existing hay equipment can handle the job of cutting and baling it.
Yields are twice that other biomass crops like switchgrass or willow-and so is the potential profit.
Net returns could be as high as $400 an acre after initial investment.
In addition to the availability of land here, Mr. Griswold said Aloterra is interested in the labor pool and access to international markets the Northeast offers.
Micanthus was developed for commercial use in Europe about 50 years ago, Mr. Griswold said, and has been in this country since the 1980s.
"We want people to ask questions," he said of tonight's meeting. "We're looking for a sense of whether we should go forward."
CCE isn't taking a stand on the possible project-yet-but reps have said they're intrigued by the possibilities.