Pellets can be made from grass biomass and other non-woody forms that do not contain lignin: Dried distillers grains (a by-product of the brewing industry) can be added to provide the necessary durability. A 2005 news report from Cornell University News indicated that grass pellet production is more advanced in Europe than in North America. The benefits it recommends as a raw grass include its short growth time (70 days) and ease of growing and processing. The story quotes Jerry Charney, a professor of agriculture at the school, stating that grass produces 96 percent of the heat of wood, and that “any mixture of grass can be used, cut in mid to late summer, left in the field to leach minerals, then packaged and pelletized. The hay from which pellets are made does not need to be dried, making processing less expensive than wood pellets.”