Senator Lugar s bill also appears to target celluloic crops. And since the Conservation Reserve Program requires that eligible crops require little fertilizers and minimize soil erosion, Senator Harkin s bill will almost entirely benefit cellulosic crops. Cellulose falls between jurisdictional cracks at both the government and farmer level. Our two major cellulosic crops cotton and wood are well-represented in policymaking circles and on federal organization charts. But there has not been an Office of Fibers in the Department of Agriculture since 193.
None exists that cuts across cellulosic crops.
But fiber farming is coming. Minnesota soybean farmers are beginning to use soy stalks for construction products. Corn farmers in Iowa ave harvested corn stover to make chemicals, and their brethren in Illinois, Indiana and Nebraska have investigated the feasibility of converting corn stover into paper. Grain farmers efforts to capture the fiber value of their crops are part of a nationwide trend by farmers to try to extract the maximum value from each acre. About ten years ago cooperatively owned manufacturing enterprises began to emerge in the Upper Midwest.