Switchgrass — growing a new cash crop

knoxvillebiz.com
By Larisa Brass
Knoxville News Sentinel
Posted January 9, 2011 at midnight

East Tennessee farmers' first switchgrass harvest ready to turn into biofuel
When Blount County farmer John Davis decided to enter the switchgrass business, he did so with some trepidation.

"I'm a cautious individual," said Davis, who last year planted the native grass on less than an eighth of his family farm through a contract with Genera Energy, which is working with more than 60 East Tennessee farmers to grow the up-and-coming bioenergy crop. He also wasn't sure he could part ways with the beef cattle business he'd been in all his life, even though, with today's production costs, the farm was barely breaking even.

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