Switchgrass may yield biofuel bounty

Reap more than you sow. That’s the challenge faced by farmers who grow crops for biofuels.

GRASSY FUEL. A bale of switchgrass can produce enough ethanol to fill a 50-gallon barrel. J. Roitsch

Even as biofuel production booms, some scientists have questioned whether the fertilizer- and tractor-intensive farming of crops used to make biofuels consumes more energy than it produces.