Since I mentioned the issue of the massive hypoxia, or “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico, I’ve started to dig around into some various solutions to this problem.

In a previous post I detailed how intensive corn stover utilization for livestock feed replacement and cellulosic ethanol production causes soil degradation through nutrient removal, erosion, runoff and minimizes the soil’s water holding capacity.

The last decade has seen a major increase in collecting and using corn stover for feedstock and increasingly for bio-fuel production, mostly ethanol. Historically, cattle have been allowed to graze corn stover after a harvest with minimal impact to the nutrient levels.