Production and Economics of Perennial-based Woody and Herbaceous Biomass Crops under alley-cropping Systems Gregg Johnson1, David Smith2, Joshua Gamble2, Dean Current2, Bill Lazarus3, Bill Berguson4, Donald Wyse1, Diomy Zamora2 , Gary Wyatt, and Craig Sheaffer1,   1Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics 2Department of Forest Resources 3Department of Applied Economics 4Natural Resource Research Institute

Research objectives Evaluate productivity, species pairings Refine biomass production database Decision support tool

Alley cropping experiment 2 woody crops, 4 herbaceous crops 15.2 m alley between tree rows 3 on-farm sites: Fairmont, Empire, and Granada, MN 2 floodplain, 1 stream terrace 5 years (2010 - 2014) 4.9 m (16 ft) 15.2 m (50 ft) Highlight what the alley is!! 3

Crops Switchgrass Prairie cordgrass 11 species native polyculture Alfalfa - intermediate wheatgrass mixture Shrub willow ‘Fish Creek’ (Salix purpurea) Poplar hybrid ‘NM6’ (Populus nigra x P. maximowiczii) Crops were mowed twice during the establishment year Single fall harvest… 4

Research Sites Empire Granada Empire site in July 2013 Fairmont

Productivity Herbaceous yield decline at Empire from 2011 to 2013 (North-South alleys) Relatively constant yields at other sites Figure 1 Relative yield of herbaceous biomass at Empire in 2013 with respect to distance from the tree row. Yield in the center of the alley (7.6 m from tree row) is the reference (1.0), which is denoted by the horizontal dashed line. Error bars represent one standard error of the mean. Points that share the same letter are not different (P ≤ 0.05) Distance from tree row (m)

2013 woody biomass

Resource availability & productivity Growth resources PAR Soil N availability Soil water potential (+ soil temperature) Plant responses LAI / biomass

Soil matric potential Sensors A & E: in tree rows Sensors B & D are 2.44 m from tree rows Sensors A & E: in tree rows Sensors B & D: 2.44 m from tree rows Sensor C (center): 7.6 m from tree rows

Soil C Figure 6: Soil total organic carbon (TOC) on two sampling dates (left panel) and percent change in TOC (right panel) by soil depth over four years in alley cropping systems at two Minnesota sites. Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals of the mean.

Biomass Production Database Relational Database MySQL Data Entry Web Application Manual Data Entry CSV Import/Export by data table Bulk Import/Export

Biomass Web Application Research Data Decision Support Tool Inputs Operations Budgets Economic (Enterprise) Environmental

Biomass Web Application Users Research Non-economists Economists Extension Natural Resource Professional Educators Producers Farmers Crop Consultants

Biomass Web Application Site/Field ✔ Inputs ✔ Operations ✔ Budgets Enterprise ✔ AAEA Task Force on Commodity Cost and Returns Environmental CENTURY (biomass, carbon, nitrogen leaching) RUSLE (soil loss, phosphorus) Research Specific Data

Inputs

Inputs | List

Operations

Reports | Enterprise Budgets | Detail

Reports | Enterprise Budgets | Cash Flow

Questions? Funding provided by: The North Central SunGrant Initiative MPCA / EPA 319 Clean Water Act Grant MN Dept. of Agriculture Xcel Energy Renewable Development Fund North Central SARE Special thanks to: Rural Advantage, Martin SWCD USDA National Agroforestry Center, Metropolitan Council, Darwin & Sandy Roberts, Dean Maschoff Matt Bickell , Joshua Larson, & Airtone Lina 20 20