Several Loudon County farmers, representatives of UT Agricultural Extension Service and energy specialists converged on Alfred Davis' farm Wednesday afternoon to see how the switch grass project begun two years ago is progressing. 

The project is part of the UT Biofuels Initiative to grow and harvest switchgrass for ethanol production in Tennessee. 

In the rainy switch grass field, pioneer switch grass farmers looked on as AGCO demonstrated its latest hay baler, which the company has modified to accommodate switch grass harvesting. The switch grass, which grows to be eight to nine feet tall, was processed by the baler and left in bales weighing approximately 800 pounds. 

"It's going better than we anticipated," said Sam Jackson, vice president of feedstock operations for Genera Energy. 

He explained the fields in Loudon and surrounding counties are part of the pilot program designed to show switchgrass is a viable alternative energy source when it is processed into biofuel. Jackson said energy is not the only advantage of switch grass. 

He cited the grass' use as field cover for wildlife like quails and turkeys and their young.  The grass can also be used as a fodder for cattle. 

Jackson said the grass has also saved some farmers who were going bankrupt depending on the dairy and cattle trade and others who have farmed tobacco in the past. He said making the change to switch grass has helped those farmers "make their land more productive." 

He said nine counties have farmers participating in the program. 

"We have 40 farms under contract which equals about 2,600 acres," Jackson said adding his company plans to help participating farmers grow about 3,000 acres next year.

Loudon County's UT Extension Agent John Goddard said since switch grass is baled after the first of November, or after the first frost, when most farmers have harvested their other crops but have yet to put their equipment away for the winter, it doesn't interfere with their normal farm schedule. He noted the field at the Davis farm was planed during the drought of 2007.

 "We didn't think anything would come of it but look at it now," Goddard said. He added farmers were paid $450 per acre to grow the switch grass but next year they would get only $250 an acre and would be paid by the ton for the switch grass they produce. This gives the farmers in incentive to produce more.

Jackson said Loudon County and the other counties participating in the project have become "the hub of switchgrass" production. With the state legislature voting this week to continue funding the switchgrass portion of the Tennessee Biofuels Project and the with first biofuels plant about to open in Vonore, farmers in the county are in a good position to get in on the ground floor of a new industry designed to help farmers and lessen the country's dependence on foreign oil. 

The plan to create bio-fuel from switchgrass has its share of critics but Jackson likened this beginning to the first computers - if they had been abandoned during their infancy the world would not enjoy the benefits of computers we enjoy today.