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In the interview, “A Farmer’s Journey with Miscanthus: Part 1,” we learned about Steve Schomberg and his involvement with growing miscanthus for the University of Iowa power plant. Steve has also been working with Koch Angus Farms, a cattle production farm near Letts, Iowa for the last four years. During this time, he got to know Scott Hintermiester, a herdsman for Koch Angus, who manages the day to day operations for the last two years. Steve donated some large round and small square miscanthus bales to test as bedding for their calves and cattle. 

Register for the University of Iowa Biomass Fuel Project Update Meeting! 

Friday December 13^th @ 10-11:30AM (public meeting)

Linn County Extension Office

383 Collins Road NE

Cedar Rapids, IA 52402

Includes updates from UI team members, project partners (ISU and AGgrow Tech) and current project growers. 

Register Here 

Have you been driving in rural eastern Iowa lately? You might have noticed those choppers and wagons a few weeks ago harvesting miscanthus fields, but what have you seen most recently? Planters! You might have noticed that they don’t look like the grain planters most of us are used to seeing.  Miscanthus x giganteus is a perennial grass that does not produce a viable seed; therefore, planting methods are different compared to our conventional row crops. Today, we’ll focus on rhizomes, the most common planting material for miscanthus in Iowa.

Welcome to ISU Biomass, led by the Heaton Lab at Iowa State University. Together with our partners, we work to integrate perennial crops into the annual crop landscape to improve economic, environmental, and social outcomes. One of our focus areas is the production and ecophysiology of giant miscanthus (Miscanthus × giganteus).