Beets could produce trifold crop of biofuel, food and cash

BY KIRK STARRATT

Kings County Register

With the first crop less than a month from harvest, an energy company is already looking for growers for the next growing season.

Atlantec BioEnergy Corporation (ABC) has contracts in place for 520 acres of sugar beets for ethanol production across Nova Scotia this year and has been hosting field days with growers to demonstrate the merits of the crop.

ABC held one such field day in Northville Aug. 26 at the farm of John and Peter Swetnam. The Swetnams have a crop of ABC’s sugar beets in the ground, and John Swetnam said this particular variety is a long-season beet and the land they’re planted in is too heavy for carrots or onions. They used to grow table beets for Avon Foods in the 1980s, and the sugar beets could be an alternative crop.

“All farmers are optimistic,” he said. “Everyone is looking for another alternative for crop rotation and cash flow.”

Although yields have yet to be determined, John said the crop could be of value: it’s a Roundup-ready variety and would help keep weeds off the land.

Ron Coles, ABC Manager of Public Relations and External Development, said most growers in Nova Scotia haven’t seen a sugar beet crop. Test crops have been planted in locations across the province in all different soil types. Coles said it’s good to know what level of fertility you need so you have a good idea of what your input costs will be: the cost of fertilizer could double in the next year, which will have a significant impact on all crops.

Coles said sugar beets have twice the ethanol potential as corn and, for every unit of energy they put into producing the beets, they expect to get nine units of energy in return. He said there is a significant amount of cropland currently out of production and this initiative could help revitalize it. They hope to have 5,000 acres in active beet production next year and they’re moving toward 17,000 acres, although not all necessarily in Nova Scotia. Parts of our province could even produce winter beets, and ABC has several locations lined up to test such a crop.

There are two types of grower contracts available: one for landowners without equipment (ABC would manage the crop) and per-tonne contracts for producers. They’re hoping to have all grower contracts signed by November.

“It’s important for us not to be competing with food,” Coles said. “People keep talking food versus fuel. We’re food and fuel.”

Coles said the beets are white, not red, and about half of the white sugar we use comes from sugar beets.

There is a four-year rotation for beets: you’d grow beets on a given piece of land one year, then take three years off. This could open doors to other ethanol-producing crops during the off years, or food crops.

It was important for ABC to plant acreage for research and development purposes this year and to validate its technology. The company has significant federal funding, which Coles said validates both its technology and business plan. ABC is also conducting storage trials. Usually, beets are stored outside and processed frozen.

The proposed bio-energy plant would be neutral for water consumption, thermal heat, electricity use and crop nutrients; there would be no waste stream from the plant.

ABC has been getting between 80 and 100 people out to itsfield days, and it will be holding mentorship schools for growers and has opportunities for bonafide farmers to invest and have the costs subsidized.



WEBLINKS

www.atlantecbioenergy.com

Beet power

Ethanol is a lot like moonshine: it starts as 200 per cent alcohol and, when a percentage of gasoline is added, you get ethanol.

All cars built since 1982 can burn up to 10 per cent ethanol; some newer models can burn up to 85 per cent ethanol.