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Here are some alternatives to field burning, with links to sites discussing their viability:
Washington Dept. of Ecology's Page on Alternatives to Burning:
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/air/aginfo/research.htm
Oregon State's Articles on the Use of Alternatives:
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/feb04/fire0204.htm
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2004/040219.htm
University of Idaho's Grass Research Website:
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2004/040219.htm
Alternatives to burning
- Bale off straw within 48 hours of grass harvest and sell as livestock feed
- If no livestock market exists, compost the straw as outlined on this website from Oregon State.
Or as featured in Scott Yates' Oct. 24, 2002 article in the Capital Press, "A New Grimm's Fable: Turning Straw into Compost," detailing composting in Fairfield, Washington by grower Dave Ostheller.
- Plant a different crop
- "Bale and Flail" a technique used successfully in Washington and described here,
- Consider the cost savings in nutrients back to the soil:
The nutrient loss with straw removal or burning in Manitoba
Nutrients in grass seed and straw
- Use straw to make biodiesel with an on-farm digester
(experiments are in progress for this in the area; not widely available yet.)
Farmers got $750,000 to get the gasification experiment off the ground
(Sen.Patty Murray championed it). This would put a small, farm-scale energy
plant on every farm (or possible coop arrangement) and can handle about 3600
tons of residue, the amount from about a 2,000 acre farm. It makes enough
electricity to run 300 homes for 1 day. They can get 60 gallons of ethanol
from 1 ton grass residue and 80 gallons from 1 ton wheat residue. This
particular piece of equipment only has 30% efficiency, though there are
more expensive machines that get up to 80% efficiency. Byproduct made is
activated carbon which can be sold for water purification.
- Harvest every other year, a practice currently under study at the Dave Mosman farm on the Camas Prairie.
In this technique, grass seed is planted with a no-till system, and not harvested the
first year. Residue is composted in place and not removed or burned. The following year, a harvest is taken and is showing increased yields, up to double a yearly harvest yield. This saves the grower money in terms of less tillage, less fertilizer application and no need to burn.
- Use the stubble as forage for cattle.
A traditional diet of alfalfa hay and grass hay comes to $1.08 per cow per day. By using grass residue and supplementing it with more alfalfa hay and barley to get protein
requirements up, the cattleman can actually get the same result for only .91/ cow per day.
With ammonification of the grass straw, they can get costs down to .83/cow/day. In fact, straw can cost the rancher up to %51.50/ ton (far more than the $40/ton they now get) and still keep the cost at .91/cow/day.
- Use herbicides to suppress bluegrass growth and allow higher yields the following year, or baling plus grazing.
See "AgKnowlege No. 183" from The University of Idaho College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.
For other AgKnowleges, see http://info.ag.uidaho.edu.
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