A recent 10-year evaluation of native grassland perennials by the [[University of Minnesota]] concluded that biofuels from this source could displace about 13% of global petroleum without losing agricultural land. Their study indicated that the process was carbon negative in that it removed more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than was released by the combustion of fossil-fuel during the processes involved in agriculture, transportation and processing. Opponents of this kind of land use point out, however, that in the US the use of corn to produce ethanol encourages monoculture farming, which leaves soils eroded and water polluted. <ref>http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2006/12/05/olmstead/</ref> | A recent 10-year evaluation of native grassland perennials by the [[University of Minnesota]] concluded that biofuels from this source could displace about 13% of global petroleum without losing agricultural land. Their study indicated that the process was carbon negative in that it removed more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than was released by the combustion of fossil-fuel during the processes involved in agriculture, transportation and processing. Opponents of this kind of land use point out, however, that in the US the use of corn to produce ethanol encourages monoculture farming, which leaves soils eroded and water polluted. <ref>http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2006/12/05/olmstead/</ref> |