Winter 1995 (v7n1)
David Morris and Irshad Ahmend
Institute for Local self-reliance. 1993
This provocative 12-page report describes an emerging "carbohydrate economy" in which plants are used not only for food, feed, paper and lumber, but as raw material for fuels and basic industrial materials. At the heart of this economy are locally-based biorefineries which process plant materials-creating new markets for farmers and boosting economic development in rural communities. The report suggests a new strategy for wedding many goals at the heart of agricultural Sustainability, including the economic viability of small to medium-scale farms, resource conservation, and a more resilient rural economy linked to farming.
Drawing on government reports, university research, and recent business experience, the authors describe two recent developments that are making possible the carbohydrate economy. Technological advances in the material sciences make it possible to create high quality, low cost fuels and industrial chemicals from plant matter. At the same time, political regulations on fossil fuels have stiffened and raised their cost. As a result, biofuels or biochemicals are beginning to be competitive in cost with mineral-derived fuels and chemicals.
For example, the cost of producing detergent enzymes, a partial substitute for phosphates, has dropped by more than 70 percent, while over half of the nation's states have enacted regulations limiting or banning the use of phosphates in detergents. Ethanol, perhaps the most widely recognized biofuel, now can be produced for about $ 1. 10 per gallon and competes well with gasoline additives like MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether) required by the Clean Air Act. Biomass generated electricity is becoming competitive with coal, particularly because of expensive pollution control technologies required on new coal-fired power plants. New emission standards for volatile organic compounds are spurring the substitution of vegetable oils for mineral oils in inks and paints.
While virgin plant material will be the key feedstock of the carbohydrate economy, agricultural wastes will also play an important initial role. By raising the cost of disposal, environmental regulations make it increasingly attractive to recover agricultural wastes. The authors estimate that some 350 million tons of agricultural wastes are currently taken from fields and available for processing. These waste materials include items such as cotton processing wastes, rice straw, wheat straw, wood and pulp mill wastes, and cheese whey from dairies, Agricultural waste-to-energy and chemical facilities are beginning to emerge, including the first whey-to-ethanol plants such as the one in Tulare, California.
Because plant matter is expensive to transport, it makes sense for bioprocessing facilities to be modest in scale and located near their raw material suppliers. Based on experience to date, the authors estimate that an -average size biorefinery might consume 100,000-300,000 tons of plant matter per year. By recovering agricultural wastes, and increasing the acreage of new carbohydrate crops, the nation might easily produce 200 million tons of plant matter, enough to supply 700-2,000 new biorefineries. The higher estimate would allow for one such facility in every rural county in the nation.
By substituting native plant matter for imported petroleum, a biorefinery-oriented economic development strategy can help meet key national security and environmental goals. It can also create thousands of new jobs in rural areas and raise the prices farmers receive for their crops. If the biorefineries were organized as producer cooperatives they could insure that the majority of revenues created remain in the area to help the local economy, rather than being siphoned out of the community by distant corporations. Finally, biorefineries could lead to spin-off businesses in the area of cultivation or processing, providing for the type of regional "clustering" that many economic experts believe will be critical to success in the new global economy.
Reviewer's Comments
The carbohydrate economy provides important new market possibilities for farmers, as well as a realistic, agriculturally based economic development tools for rural areas. In its admittedly limited applications to date, this development strategy is beginning to strengthen the interconnections between farmers and rural development planners, and provide an alternative to tourism as the key to developing rural economies.
As the authors point out, a national policy to encourage biorefinery development will need to be compatible with a continuing emphasis on environmentally sound production practices. If the new market for fuels displaced needed food production, or if farmers rushed to supply this new market by implementing practices that threatened soils or water supplies, the strategy will not realize its potential of being simultaneously environmentally benign and economically viable.
This report presents new possibilities for sustainable agriculture research. Appropriate plant types (that could be raw materials for biorefineries) need to be identified. These new crops must be introduced within the context of a whole production system, and attention must be given to how these crops could be grown in an environmentally sound manner.
Rural Development, Biorefineries and the Carbohydrate Economy is available from the Institute for Self-Reliance, 2425 18th NW, Washington, DC 20009-2096. Tel: (202) 232-4108.
Contributed by Dave Campbell
(DCC.007)
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