Robert B Mitchell (Rob)

Research Agronomist

Research Objectives

1. Develop perennial cool- and warm-season grasses and legumes and associated management practices for use in establishing or restoring grazed grasslands.
2. Develop perennial grasses, with emphasis on switchgrass, and associated management practices for use in biomass energy crop production systems.
3. Develop basic and applied information on the genetic and physiological mechanisms controlling grass herbage and biomass yield and quality that could be utilized to improve these traits via breeding and management research.
4. Coordinate the USDA Central-East Regional Biomass Research Center. https://www.ars.usda.gov/plains-area/lincoln-ne/wheat-sorghum-and-forage-research/docs/central-east-regional-biomass-research-center/

 

‘Liberty’ switchgrass, the first bioenergy specific switchgrass developed for the central Great Plains and Midwest.

 

 

Field studies evaluating perennial grasses for bioenergy are being conducted at more than 50 sites in NE, IA, IL, IN, MN, MO, OH, PA, SD, ND, & WI on establishing & managing existing & new high yielding biomass strains.

 

 

Switchgrass provides a perennial grass option for marginally productive cropland to provide biomass for bioenergy, forage, wildlife habitat, reduce soil erosion, increase soil C sequestration, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.