Land currently used to grow row crops would provide one source of land for perennial grass production. The primary concern associated with this conversion is that less cropland would be available for food production, leading to diminished food supplies and increased food prices (Carey 2005).
However, this competition could be mitigated if switchgrass is grown on land currently used to grow corn for ethanol. It is estimated that about 20% of harvested corn goes into ethanol production (Yates, 2008).
Based on this percentage and the amount of corn acreage grown in 2008, approximately 16.5 million acres would open up for switch grass production if corn ethanol were replaced.
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