Hybrid poplar on conservation reserve program land: farm producer information and education

Planting hybrid poplar on smaller plots of 1 and 10 acres in the north central region of the U.S. took place as early as 1986. The purpose of planting was to understand how selected clones would grow at larger field scales than on fractions of an acre at experimental U.S. Forest Service plots. At the beginning of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) in 1986, several people determined that there was an opportunity to grow hybrid poplar as a conservation option. Red pine, white spruce, red oak, and green ash were already being used on CRP and other privately owned land and were determined to be suitable for the lighter sandy soils. In 1987 and 1988, a few public meetings were held. One was coordinated by Northern States Power in Granite Falls, Minnesota. Others were held during the CRP contract sign-up periods to inform interested people about hybrid poplar for CRP land. Notices were sent out to interested forestry agency leaders and many persons participated. Since these early meetings, nearly 2000 acres of hybrid poplar have been planted on CRP land in the Minnesota Wood Energy Scale-up Project near Alexandria, Minnesota. A series of public information meetings, and subsequent farmer-producer discussions involving many local and state agencies, have led to a clearer understanding of opportunities and barriers for marketing hybrid poplar for energy, fiber, and fuels and chemicals. A number of lessons have been documented and learned about production of hybrid poplar. (author)