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A comment on Scientists Have 'Hacked Photosynthesis' in Search of More Productive Crops. Parent comment

Re:Scientists Have 'Hacked Photosynthesis' in Search of More... by weberc2 on Friday January 04, 2019 @10:35AM (#18824683)
> For corn, the stalks are used as silage.

How common is this? In my area, the combines chew up the stalks and spit them out as chaff. I don't see many people collecting the chaff.

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Re:Scientists Have 'Hacked Photosynthesis' in Search of More... by Maximus9000 on Friday January 04, 2019 @11:02AM (#18824939)
Not sure. The dairy farm I worked at used the corn stalks. They make a product called "silage" which can be used as winter feed for the cattle.
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Re:Scientists Have 'Hacked Photosynthesis' in Search of More... by weberc2 on Friday January 04, 2019 @12:37PM (#18825897)
Curious. My neighbor was a dairy farmer. They did this too. No one else though.
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Re:Scientists Have 'Hacked Photosynthesis' in Search of More... by Juggerbot on Friday January 04, 2019 @03:44PM (#18827425)
It can depend on the price of fodder. If hay is cheap, there's not much incentive to spend time/fuel on baling stalks.

However, if they're not baled, they decompose in the field, which technically reduces fertilizer inputs.

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