Land Use

The deployment of biomass production systems for power and biofuels must be done "with the right crops on the right lands." Certain lands -such as equatorial rainforests, native grasslands, and other key habitats – should be maintained for the benefit of future generations, and not converted to other uses, whether for housing, agriculture or energy production.

There are vast acreages of former agricultural lands that are no longer in use, as the soil may have been degraded, the yield may not be economically viable for annual crops, or otherwise. Much of this former land can be put back into agricultural use, primarily with perennial grasses that are better suited for these acres and soil quality. Some land is in production today, but is substantially underutilized. A good example (see below) is pasture land in Brazil. The number of cows on Brazilian pasture land is less than one for every two acres. More efficient use of this existing pasture land would free up more than 150 million acres for biomass production.