MANKATO — The nine-county region has lots of corn fields, and after they are combined, lots and lots of corn stover — the brown leaves, stalks and cobs left behind.
Now the area has received the first in the nation “A” rating for the supply and quality of available stover as well as a lack of companies using it. The rating comes from Ecostrat and was announced jointly with Region Nine Development Commission.
Stover can be used for a wide range of things, including biofuels, such as aviation fuel.
Nicole Griensewic, executive director of Region Nine Development Commission, said the designation is drawing interest.
“It’s created a lot of excitement already. Companies are reaching out. They’re asking about (electric) transmission lines and water supply and things. It’s a big deal.”
She said the A grade means the area is investor-ready for those who want to utilize corn stover. The strong infrastructure already in place makes companies more interested.
Griensewic said companies have expressed interest in developing bioenergy parks, including making sustainable aviation fuel from corn stover.
“The opportunities are great for the economy and for the environment. It doesn’t take the nutrients away (from the soil), and it’s something environmentalists can get behind.”
While tilling stover into the soil adds nitrogen to be used by the next year’s crop, the stover can be harvested while leaving 25% or so on the ground to keep nutrients for plant growth the following year.
Ecostrat, a consulting firm based in Ontario, Canada, works with bioenergy, biochemical and biofuel startups and companies in North America and overseas.
The A rating covers a radius of 75 miles from St. James, covering all of the nine-county region and reaching into other counties.
Ecostrat said the area has strong infrastructure to support companies that would want to build here and utilize the stover. They said the region has abundant and underutilized corn stover that make potential projects low-risk ventures.
“As one of the nation’s top corn-producing areas with no established competition for corn stover in the region and a surplus of potential suppliers, the Zone is strategically positioned to accommodate large-scale bio-based manufacturing projects,” Ecostrat said.
Sam Sharp, energy and sustainability planner at Region Nine, said the rating has a lot of economic potential.
“We want to keep the money coming back into the community, create jobs, we’re excited about it.”
He said Ecostrat does assessments on feedstock supplies and potential for successful use of it for private companies and public entities.
In the mid 2000s there was a lot of interest in developing plants to turn stover into ethanol. But the concept never proved economically feasible.
Sharp and Griensewic said that in those days farmers were often asked to invest in projects and suffered losses. But they said the situation is different today when it comes to producing various biofuel or other products from stover.
“The technology has gotten much better and there’s lots of funding out there,” Sharp said, including tax incentives for things like green jet fuel production.
They said companies are willing to put up large amounts of money for plants to reduce risk to any other investors.
