Agricultural biomass is a relatively broad category
of biomass that includes: the food-based portion
of crops (such as corn, sugarcane, and beets), the
nonfood-based portion of crops (such as corn stover
[the leaves, stalks, and cobs], orchard trimmings,
and rice husks), perennial grasses, and animal waste.
Traditionally, there have been high costs associated
with recovering most agricultural residues, and therefore,
they have not yet been widely used for energy
purposes. However, they can offer a sizeable biomass
resource if technology and infrastructure are developed
to economically recover and deliver this type of
biomass to processing facilities.