Milk production at a diary farm was low so the farmer wrote to the local university asking for help from academia. A multidisciplinary team of professors was assembled and two weeks of intensive on-site investigation took place. The scholars then returned to the university, notebooks crammed with data, where the task of writing the report began. Shortly thereafter the farmer received the write-up, and opened it to read on the first line: “Consider a spherical cow …”

4% 17% Pie of the Day There are 2 million farms in US

What percent of our (US) meals are eaten in the car? A.1% B.2% C.5% D.20% Trivia from “The Omnivores Dilemma” by Michael Pollan

4% 1970 What does this energy consumption buy us in terms of food energy? 3 calories of fossil energy buys us 1 calorie of food For feedlot beef, the ratio is 35:1

Farm Ecosystem Recycling Ratio Near Environment Outputs Inputs Machinery + Fuel Tractors Trailers Trucks Diesel Gasoline Fertilizer Anhydrous ammonia (N) Potash (K) Phosphate (P) Pesticides Water Seeds Transportation Equipment + Fuel Electricity (drying) Grain Residue monoculture Recycling Ratio = 0 Factory Farm Sun

Farm Ecosystem Recycling Ratio Near Environment Outputs Inputs Sun Grain Grain, residue Horses, compost, seeds Rain Recycling Ratio = 1 Sustainable Farm

17% 1991

Land Use Of the 2 million farms, 6.7% account for 75% of farm sales (2002, USDA) Corn = 79,400,000 acres (11,100,000,000 bushels) Cotton = 15,300,000 acres Rice = 2,840,000 acres Wheat = 57,300,000 acres (1,810,000,000 bushels) Sorghum = 6,280,000 acres Soybeans = 74,900,000 acres (3,090,000,000 bushels) Colorado is 66,700,000 acres. Field Crops in the US

How do we get these high yields? Better living through chemistry Fertilizers and Pesticides Better living through biology

Fertilizer Facts from The Fertilizer Institute Three main ingredients: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium. China is the largest producer and consumer of chemical fertilizer. –US is #2. The fertilizer industry is $10 billion/yr business. Modern fertilizer accounts for ~1/3 of all crop yield. –Some say that modern fertilizer has allowed the earth’s population to expand by 30-40% over the carrying capacity.

Haber-Bosch Process Fritz Haber, 1918 NobelCarl Bosch, 1931 Nobel 1 st industrial chemical reaction process to use high pressure O 2 + N 2 + CH 4 Fe Catalyst CO 2 + NH 4 + P = 200 – 400 atm T = 400 – 650 °C nitrogen fertilizer

Where does all this corn go? 3 of every 5 corn kernels in the US goes to feed animals Conversion efficiency: (kg of grain:kg of meat) Chicken, 2:1 Pork, 4:1 Beef, 7:1

What about meat? Grain yields ~ 30 kJ of metabolizable energy/hectare Beef yields ~ 1 kJ of metabolizable energy/hectare

When was high fructose corn syrup created? A.1920 B.1940 C.1960 D.1980 Trivia from “The Omnivores Dilemma” by Michael Pollan

Dupont CEO’s, Chad Holliday, Sept 2005

Biorenewable resources organic materials made of recent biological origin are by definition sustainable this is what we did until 150 yrs ago Bioenergy conversion of the chemical energy in the molecule to heat Biobased products transportation fuels chemicals and natural fibers

Why is a return to bio-based energy and products attractive? Environmental quality National security Excess agricultural production Rural development

Challenges Handling of a solid fuel Low density, so volume dictates transportation limits, not mass High moisture content Lower heating value than fossil fuels Contain high oxygen content

References Food and Energy Resources, Edited by D. Pimentel, C. Hall, Academic Press Inc., 1984 Energy, 2 nd Edition, by G. Albrecht, Prentice Hall, 1995