A study in Iowa funded by the United Soybean Board found that winter cereal rye that grew an extra 3 weeks prior to soybeans produced about 300-400% more biomass, with a 100% increase in nitrogen retention.

The University of Tennessee shares when to do a cover crop burndown to get the most biomass for weed suppression after this year's cold winter temperatures.

Planting cereal rye as a cover crop provides numerous short- and long-term agronomic and environmental benefits.

Media coverage of the controversy surrounding the use of certain non-native feedstocks for bioenergy is as pervasive as invasiveness itself. Plants such as giant reed (Arundo donax) and elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum) are known to be weedy or invasive in natural habitats; the concern lies in their ability to spread propagules into natural habitats outside intended areas.

BioNitrogen Corporation (PINKSHEETS: BION), a cleantech company that utilizes exclusive technology to build environmentally-friendly plants that convert agriculture and forestry biomass into urea fertilizer, announced today that the patent for its biomass-to-urea technology has been approved by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The patented technology will be used in BioNitrogen’s plants.

One benefit of planting cover crops after corn silage, small grain, or a processing vegetable crop, or after a manure application is that the cover crop can take up residual nitrate and reduce the risk of nitrate leaching between harvest and planting.

One question being asked is how much nutrient will be removed if the stunted corn crop is taken out of the field.

Kansas State University researchers are studying the feasibility of using land that had been enrolled in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Conservation Reserve Program to grow plants for the biomass market.