- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Federal law requires annual U.S. production of 36 billion gallons of biofuels by 2022, creating a potentially profitable opportunity for California farmers, according to UC experts quoted in Western Farm Press.
Writer Cary Blake based two stories in the magazine's current issue on the April 2010 Alfalfa, Forages and Biofuels Field Day at the UC Desert Research and Extension Center in El Centro.
The story said UC Davis Cooperative Extension agronomist Steve Kaffka is optimistic about the future of California biofuels production.
"Available solar...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Alternative crops always make interesting copy. In the past, I have had the opportunity to write about the potential for growing tea tree in the San Joaquin Valley, dryland switch grass for biofuel, dragon fruit, jujube, capers, tropical papaya and, when it was still an "alternative crop" in California, blueberries. Western Farm Press published a story in the current issue about a UC Davis study, being conducted at the UC Desert Research and Extension Center in Holtville, of jatropha, a potential oil crop.
Jatropha is a tropical, drought tolerant, perennial plant grown as a tree or shrub up to 13 feet in height, the article said. The...