There are so many remarkable NCESR success stories to share that we continue to feature these inspiring accounts from our faculty and students in place of the traditional Director’s Corner article.
With sustained funding support from NPPD for nearly two decades, NCESR has been a catalyst for impactful research seed funding in the energy sciences. This longstanding partnership has enabled NCESR to provide critical seed funding that has supported numerous UNL faculty members, created valuable opportunities for students, and led to a strong record of publications and citations. Most notably, the return on investment has been exceptional—with every $1 of NCESR seed funding generating an impressive $8.30 in external research funding.
We are proud of these achievements and look forward to the future. NCESR is in the process of reviewing preproposals for Cycle 20 seed funding, continuing our commitment to advancing energy research and innovation.
Dr. Galen Erickson’s success is presented below. Dr Erickson is the Nebraska Cattle Industry Professor of Animal Science in the department of Animal Science with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Where’s the beef at the Nebraska Center for Energy Sciences Research?
Cattle are very important to Nebraska and our agricultural industry, as they account for more than half of all on-farm ag revenue. We are a beef state with a long and proud heritage.
A fascinating thing about cattle is that they recycle and convert products that are inedible to humans (i.e., fiber in grass and byproducts) into tasty beef products. A couple decades ago, when NCESR was being established, there was a major effort by the corn board and foresight by the NPPD board to enhance the use of distillers’ grains, a byproduct of the corn-ethanol industry. With that foresight, many believed if we could enhance the use of distillers’ grains by cattle in our state, it would be a competitive advantage for our renewable fuel industry, corn producers and cattle producers. Funding from NCESR, as well as the Nebraska Corn Board, and private industry, particularly Cargill, resulted in research that shows we can take corn into these plants and remove starch, and be left with feed byproducts that actually have more value to cattle than the original grain.
In the early studies we focused on how to optimize feeding, how much to maximize diet inclusion, what types of cattle diets work best in combination with distillers’ grains, and to understand the economic implications. With funding from NCESR, we established that feeding distillers’ grains in the wet form saves ethanol plants from drying the product, reduces fossil fuel use at the plants, and makes ethanol more favorable compared to gasoline. A large part of that energy savings is also because cattle do better when fed the wet distillers compared to drying. All ethanol plants make wet distillers, but if cattle are not close to plants, then those plants, they have no choice but to dry the distillers and ship them to locations that demand it. That is a competitive advantage for our agricultural industries in Nebraska, often referred to as the ‘Golden Triangle’ of corn, ethanol, and cattle. I cannot say with certainty who coined this concept, but I am sure Dr. Ken Cassman (retired director of NCESR) and Dr. Terry Klopfenstein had a part in it. Terry was a tremendous person, researcher, and beef scientist who was my colleague and mentor. Today, Nebraska is considered a global leader in the best uses of feed byproducts for growing and finishing cattle because of early funding by NCESR and the corn board.
Another area of our research focus, where funding from NCESR has made a difference, is related to methane and cattle. Everyone has heard that cattle produce methane as they are little roaming fermenters. Cattle naturally produce methane from rumen fermentation, which is a byproduct of being able to convert grass into usable energy. It is interesting as on one hand, we are actively pursuing ways to cut the amount of methane cattle produce in their gut system (called enteric methane). On the other hand, we are actively trying to increase methane production from beef systems by digesting manure and converting that organic material remaining in cattle waste into biogas or renewable natural gas (i.e., methane from anaerobic digestors).
Related to this approach, we have tried to grow algae on wastewater from beef operations that could be used to produce renewable energy (oil) and then feed that algae residue back to cattle. That seed funding did not lead to large development of algae-producing facilities in feedyards, but it did lead to a few different grants for feeding other algae products to cattle, establishing safety and energy recovery from feeding algae. More recently, a certain type of algae has a compound that actually reduces methane production in the rumen which we are studying further. In a related area, we were able to explore testing biochar fed to cattle as a potential method to mitigate enteric methane which also led to a large grant in collaboration with the forest service. As it turns out, feeding biochar has no positive impact yet it is still touted by some as a methane mitigation option for beef producers.
We have a diverse portfolio of research focused on either making cattle part of the renewable energy industry or ways to improve energy use and decrease the carbon footprint of beef production. Funding from NCESR has allowed us to explore innovative and sometimes riskier ideas. This funding resulted in research thrusts and outside funding after establishing expertise and some credibility in those areas.
One of the most essential functions of research is graduate student training. I applaud NPPD for having the foresight to invest in energy-saving research that benefits Nebraska and the global environment. I also appreciate the focus on renewable energy research within agriculture. We have many opportunities for exciting research that focuses on continual improvement of Nebraska beef industry; in a sense, we are just beginning! So, where is the beef? I hope it is a highlight for NCESR funding and our land grant mission as we improve our energy systems within Nebraska agriculture.