South Dakota farmers are best known for producing corn and soybeans, but one South Dakota State University professor is hoping grass will soon be added to that list.  He's growing native prairie grass as a crop.

"Farmers like to see things, and if they can see it and it's working, then there's a chance of adopting it," Professor Carter Johnson said.

There's a lot for farmers to see near Colman. It's where South Dakota State Ecology Professor Carter Johnson is converting 600 acres of farmland into grassland.

"The idea of the farm, of course, is to demonstrate to the public, and to producers, how to make a living off grass in corn and soy bean country," Johnson said.

Johnson is in the second year of a five-year research project funded through private donations. 

"The question is really how much can you really produce on a real farm under real conditions," Johnson said.

Johnson says so far, it's been cheaper to grow grass than corn or beans because it doesn't take as much money to plant the crop. Grass is planted once and it grows back every year and doesn't need much fertilizer. 

"Since these are perennial grasses, they come up every year. You plant them once then all you have to do is manage them properly and they will produce for you for decades," Johnson said. "The input costs probably are less than half of what corn and soy bean input costs are, so the potential for higher profits per acre is really here."

By planting the grass on land that is typically used to grow corn and soy beans, the grass grows taller, which means more of a crop and hopefully more money.

"Most people in South Dakota have never seen native grass growing on our best land," Johnson said.

The native grasses can be harvested every year, and some fields can even produce two crops at one time.

"You could harvest the whole plant for bio-fuels, the whole business. Or you could harvest just the seed in one crop and then the rest of what's left standing in the bio-fuels crop," Johnson said.

With the push to make more ethanol out of grass and bio-mass instead of corn, Johnson sees that as the main way to make money out of his fields of grass. But he says grass seeds, grass-fed beef and hay are other ways to make some green from the grass. 

"It's a different way to look at grass than planting it and letting it sit. Let's plant it and put it to work and make some money off it while we're also benefiting the environment. It sounds like a win, win deal to me," Johnson said. 

But the South Dakota State professor isn't betting the farm on these fields just yet.

"But the proof is in the pudding and we're going to produce some pudding here and I hope to have some good results and we'd like to see some prairie farms springing up all over eastern South Dakota some day," Johnson said. 

And in the next few years, he hopes to prove he can make a profit off the prairie.

Professor Johnson plans to give tours of the farm to the public and farmers next year. In the meantime, he's set up a Web site about the prairie grass project online.