Cropping Systems - Biofuels: Kurt Thelen

Kurt D Thelen, is a cropping systems agronomist with a research emphasis on bioenergy and developing crop systems that increase food, feed, and energy production while safeguarding soil, air, water, and biodiversity.

Kurt D Thelen, Professor, Michigan State University, Plant, Soil & Microbial Sciences Dept.  Dr. Thelen is a cropping systems agronomist with a research emphasis on bioenergy and developing crop systems that increase food, feed, and energy production while safeguarding soil, air, water, and biodiversity.  

Our lab maintains a field research component with experimental sites located across the Great Lakes Region.  We evaluate yield and quality component levels of biomass feedstocks including switchgrass, miscanthus x giganteus, restored prairie, native grass mixes, successional populations, corn, oilseeds and industrial hemp.  Our laboratory is located in the Plant & Soil Sciences Building on the MSU campus.  In the lab we perform quality component analytics on harvested biomass samples.  Our graduate student research programs involve both field and laboratory components.  Information/education outreach is conducted through MSU Extension channels, and the MSU undergraduate class, CSS/BSE/FOR 467 Bioenergy Feedstock Production, which Dr. Thelen teaches fall semesters.     

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