NEWS RELEASE:
Research Helps Midwest Farmers Expand into New Markets
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ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Linda McGraw, (309) 681-6530, lmcgraw@asrr.arsusda.gov
April 29, 1999
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WASHINGTON, April 29--Growing nitrogen-fixing alfalfa is not only good for
the soil, but it also may help Midwest farmers reap economic benefits and
supply materials for new industrial uses.
Richard G. Koegel, an agricultural engineer with USDA's Agricultural
Research Service in Madison, Wisconsin, and University of Wisconsin
researchers are the first scientists to make lactic acid from alfalfa.
Lactic acid, now used in foods as a flavoring or preservative, could become
a key ingredient in biodegradable plastics, Koegel said.
"Producing quality products from agricultural crops without depleting our
land is the cornerstone of sustainable agriculture for all farmers--big and
small," says ARS administrator Floyd P. Horn. "Sustainable agriculture helps
farmers put more money in their pockets and less into production costs for
fertilizers and pesticides."
Alfalfa is valuable in sustainable agriculture because it fixes its own
nitrogen. That means farmers don't have to add nitrogen fertilizer, thus
saving money. Previous ARS studies have demonstrated that farmers can reap
higher yields of corn and soybeans when they plant those crops in rotation
with alfalfa.
Extracting lactic acid from alfalfa would give farmers added incentive to
grow the crop. Lactic acid is now made synthetically with chemicals or
organically as a byproduct of corn fermentation. More than half of the U.S.
lactic acid market--about 50,000 tons--is currently imported.
Koegel has devised a method for making lactic acid from alfalfa fiber, which
is left after the juice is extracted from fresh herbage. His laboratory
trials have produced yields of lactic acid as high as 60 percent.
Koegel is based at the U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center on the campus of
the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Cooperative research between ARS and
the University of Wisconsin has also produced industrially valuable enzymes
from transgenic alfalfa. After extracting the juice from fresh herbage, the
researchers have made other high-value products, including food- and
feed-grade proteins, and nutritionally valuable substances called
carotenoids. All these products from alfalfa have a value between $1,000 to
$2,000 per acre annually.
A story about the lactic acid research appears in the May issue of
Agricultural Research, ARS' monthly magazine. The article is available on
the web at:
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/may99/acid0599.htm
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Scientific contact: Richard G. Koegel, ARS U.S. Dairy Forage Research
Center, Madison, Wis., 53706, phone (608) 264-5149, fax (608) 264-5275,
rgkoegel@facstaff.wisc.edu.
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* ARS Information Staff, 5601 Sunnyside Ave., Room 1-2251, Beltsville MD
20705-5128, (301) 504- 1617, fax 504-1648.
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