Growing woody biomass: Woody feedstock cropping is an emerging option to supplement forest residue-based biomass

摘要

Coppice cropping has been used in Sweden since the 1970s to produce biomass, and it's now gaining attention elsewhere in Europe and in places like the United States, New Zealand, and Canada. Intensive willow coppice cropping seems like an efficient way to produce a consistent supply of purpose-grown fibre. As for any crop, however, there's a lot to learn about best management practices to achieve its economical production. To this end, the Canadian Wood Fibre Centre (CWFC), part of the Canadian Forest Service, began a long-term project in 2005 to evaluate the potential of willow and other woody biomass as intensively managed crops on moderate- to high-quality agricultural land under Canadian growing conditions. "We have a national network of sites that covers most of Canada," says Derek Sidders, CWFC regional coordinator. "It's primarily in the areas that have the best potential for this land management to take place—Quebec, Ontario, and the Prairie provinces. We've planted demonstration sites across the agricultural range in these provinces to demonstrate the different management options and to look at the input costs and production."