Hybrid Poplar Production in Minnesota on a Large Scale

1. Hybrid Poplar Production in Minnesota on a Large Scale Mark Downing Agricultural Economist Oak Ridge National Laboratory OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY U. S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

2. Acknowledgements • A diverse presentation such as this one benefits from years of on-going collaboration with a variety of backgrounds and disciplines and circumstances. I would like to thank: • Kate Baldwin, Janet Cushman, Lynn Wright, Anthony Turhollow, Lynn Kszos, Marie Walsh, Bob Perlack, John Stoll, Rick Freeman, Gregg Marland, Robin Graham, Randy Curlee, Rick Pierce, Ron Stoffel, Bob Hansen, Ralph Overend, Teofilo Ozuna, Jonathan Overly, Greg Larson, Dean Schmidt, Ernie Schmitt, Jerry Tuskan, Tom Kroll, Bill Bergusen, Don Riemenschneider, Dan Langseth, Dan Netzer, Terri Lundblad, Sarah Rensink, Sheila Faber, Eric Streed, JoAnn Joannides, Scott Josiah, Burt English, John Ferrell and Steve Hanson. • Notwithstanding their invaluable contributions, any mistakes or errors within this presentation remain my own responsibility. The views necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Government, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and UT-Battelle.

3. MN hybrid poplar • Some project history • Methodology to collect data • Look at cost and yield • Current status • What’s next

4. Background • Collaboration • Motivation • RD&D • Process • Data collection

5. Assumptions • ~1500 acres • 4 clones planted in 1994 • 17 landowners • Data collection • Synthesis and analysis

6. Data Caveat • May be incomplete • May be incorrect or imprecise • May be miscalculated • May be misleading • Annual costs vs field summaries

7. Cost of production

8. Cost of production offset disk and plow 15.00 tandem disk 8.00 disk/chisel 15.00 Round- up application 19.00 tandem disk cultivate/harrow 8.00 burn down and herbicide as needed 10.00 apply Linuron/Lorox 34.00 tree stock/ship/store 73.00 planting cost (8X8) spacing 49.00 first cultivation 10.00 second cultivation 10.00 third cultivation 10.00 herbicide application 15.00 AVERAGE COST PER ACRE 276.00

9. Cost of production

12. Yield • Weed competition • Soil structure • Landowner commitment • Hand plant vs machine plant • Soil variability

13. Cost three

16. Results • Project with available data • Best of the best clones planted • Pesticide/herbicide labeling • Collaboration – public/private • Synthesis and analysis • New clone sampling on site

17. Discussion • Tough to deal with landowners • USDA and DOE funding • USDA and DOE policy • Data collection is tough • Synthesis and analysis

18. Now what? • Data collection • DNR scaling, auction and harvest • Highest and best use • CRP • Research continuity