ABSTRACT
Providing food and energy to an ever-increasing world population is arguably the most challenging issue we face today. Exactly how to proceed on the agricultural side of this challenge, in conjunction with worldwide economic growth forecasts, is the subject of intense interest (see Tilman et al. 2011). Indeed, food and energy production comprise top priorities in the U.S. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology’s recent report on agricultural research (Executive Offi ce of the President 2012), and they are primary components of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s current priority areas and challenges (through Authorization-7 U.S.C. 450i). One seemingly simple way to successfully address this challenge is through increases in agricultural crop biomass. Historically speaking, these challenges, or at least portions of them, are not new. The ‘Green
1Department of Plant Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA. aEmail: mnrao@utk.edu; mnrbhav@yahoo.com 2BioEnergy Science Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA. Email: nealstewart@utk.edu *Corresponding author: ckwit@utk.edu
Revolution’ of the 1960s is often heralded for its resultant increases in agricultural biomass and crop yields through traditional and technological improvements in breeding, mechanization, and promotion of irrigation, fertilization, and pest control (see Borlaug et al. 1969; Hesser 2006). At its core, the Green Revolution was primarily focused on food (particularly grain) production, and though its efforts did result in increased yields, biomass for energy production was not emphasized.
