By Greg Booth

The fresh summer smell of alfalfa may become sweeter — and greener — to Midwest growers if a production, processing and marketing plan takes root.

The Alfalfa New Products Initiative, or ANPI, a five-state group of farmers, university ag departments and AURI, is studying both market feasibility and processing technology for alfalfa products.

Traditionally grown as feed for dairy cows and other livestock, alfalfa has wide-ranging market potential as electricity-generating fuel, paper fiber, food supplements and as a source of enzymes for manufacturing plastics.

Three ANPI states rank in the nation’s top ten producers, including Minnesota, which ranks seventh in total hay production. In 1997, Minnesota produced 4.9 million tons, estimated to be worth nearly $492 million.

First check: markets

Minnesota, North Dakota and Michigan have provided funding for an initial market study, and the project is seeking more, from federal as well as state sources, to complete the study by summer.

For all the alfalfa grown in the five-state area, relatively little is now processed beyond the hay stage. Alfalfa growers constantly battle problems such as rain, a short harvest window and plummeting feed values. Technology — some of it as much as 30 years old — would solve some of these problems, but most processes require substantial investments in machinery or processing facilities.

Rudy Radke of the North Dakota State University Extension Service believes that’s where set-ups such as grower cooperatives and joint ventures can step in. An ANPI board member, Radke says the marketing study will determine if grower groups could expand high-value cropping in the Upper Midwest, including building a processing plant. “We feel that probably a facility can be utilized in more than one state.” Processing might even lead to joint ventures between growers and feed companies, he suggests.

Quality is key

“Alfalfa hasn’t been known to be a high-quality operation in Minnesota and North Dakota,” Radke says. Right now, “there’s kind of a glut of alfalfa production on hand,” so the price is low.

The way to turn that around, he says, is to concentrate on quality. “One (ANPI) board member shoots for high quality hay. He treats it as a cash crop. He targets his harvest. He (sells) right now at $75 to $85 a ton across the board, even when hay prices are low. (Buyers) like his quality, uniformity and dependability ... It gets to be a thought pattern.”

Radke says that thought pattern — focusing on and marketing consistent, quality alfalfa — is the idea behind the five-state initiative. “The biggest part of the story is that we’re looking at a premium product, not run-of-the-mill pelleting or haying.

“We need to find out if the dairyman is interested in a product that would give him one bale or 10 truckloads of bales at the same quality. We think that’s worth something. But we’re talking about the product itself being very uniform, regardless of the grower ... If the economics don’t agree with that for the buyer, then it’s not a project.”

Consistent product can be accomplished through cooperatives, Radke says. Working much like custom harvesters of other cash crops, cooperatives can harvest large acreages in a short time, lessening worry about the weather. A French cooperative ANPI has investigated harvests all member-growers’ crops in a “green chop” before the alfalfa bloom stage, even during a rain. “That’s a plus” in the Midwest, Radke says, where rain, cash crop priorities and livestock demands often put haying at the bottom of the farmer’s priority list.

Other developing technologies might allow growers to do some alfalfa drying in the field. Conrad Fingerson and Donald Eickhoff, owners of Heartland Forage Inc. in Wykoff, Minn., are waiting for a patent on an in-field dryer. “It’s a major development as far as forage projects are concerned,” says Fingerson. “Hopefully, we’ll solve our rotting crops problem.”

One eye on France

There is also technology available for doing some first stages of wet fractionation in the field, Radke says. That would add shelf life to the forage portion of the crop, while at the same time saving on transportation costs because of the decrease in bulk.

“The markets are pretty wide,” adds Radke, for the myriad of products that can be squeezed from alfalfa. He cites the French cooperative, which offers some 30 products, including dry alfalfa bales, granular products, powder, pellets, cubes and liquids.

The market study will also show “if our markets will entertain the wet fractionation process.” Wet fractionation, used successfully in France, squeezes the juice from freshly cut alfalfa. Rich in proteins, vitamins, minerals and enzymes, the juice can be marketed as feed or food-grade supplements.

Radke says grower groups could have market information they need by the end of the summer. “If it’s a positive return, we could be looking at doing something next fall, possibly with a joint venture with the French.”

Some Midwest cooperatives are already marketing alfalfa in alternative ways. Minnesota Valley Alfalfa Producers in Granite Falls, for example, produces pelleted alfalfa meal and is developing a market for alfalfa as an electricity-generating fuel.