Production costs and supply of biomass by U.S. Region
The Biofuels Feedstock Development Program has attempted to estimate the cost of producing dedicated energy crops for several regions of the United States. Switchgrass and hybrid poplar have been chosen as representative herbaceous and woody crop species for the estimation. A full economic cost accounting approach is used. This means that not only are out-of-pocket cash expenses (e.g. fertilizers, chemicals, seeds, fuel, repairs) estimated, but fixed costs (e.g., overhead, taxes) and the costs of owned resources (e.g., producer`s own labor, equipment depreciation, land values) are also estimated as part of the cost of producing dedicated energy crops. The costs are estimated as enterprise budgets which means that costs of producing energy crops are estimated as separate entities, and not estimated in context of the entire farm management structure. Competitiveness of energy crops with conventional crops vary by region. Breakeven prices are regional averages. Breakeven prices for poplar are higher than for switchgrass in all regions, in large part due to the higher cost of producing poplars.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-84OR21400
- OSTI ID:
- 82383
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9410357-1; ON: DE95013985; TRN: 95:005201
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Iowa`s pursuit of energy efficiency conference, Des Moines, IA (United States), 25-26 Oct 1994; Other Information: PBD: [1995]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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