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Title: Opportunities for Energy Crop Production Based on Subfield Scale Distribution of Profitability

Journal Article · · Energies (Basel)
DOI:https://doi.org/10.3390/en7106509· OSTI ID:1418713
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Incorporation of dedicated herbaceous energy crops into row crop landscapes is a promising means to supply an expanding biofuel industry while increasing biomass yields, benefiting soil and water quality, and increasing biodiversity. Despite these positive traits energy crops remain largely unaccepted due to concerns over their practicality and cost of implementation. This paper presents a case study on Hardin County, Iowa to demonstrate how subfield decision making can be used to target candidate areas for conversion to energy crop production. The strategy presented integrates switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) into subfield landscape positions where corn (Zea mays L.) grain is modeled to operate at a net economic loss. The results of this analysis show that switchgrass integration has the potential to increase sustainable biomass production from 48 to 99% (depending on the rigor of conservation practices applied to corn stover collection) while also improving field level profitability. Candidate land area is highly sensitive to grain price (0.18 to 0.26 US$ kg-1) and dependent on the acceptable net profit for corn production (ranging from 0 to -1,000 US$ ha-1). This work presents the case that switchgrass can be economically implemented into row crop production landscapes when management decisions are applied at a subfield scale and compete against areas of the field operating at a negative net profit.

Research Organization:
Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC07-05ID14517
OSTI ID:
1418713
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1177646
Report Number(s):
INL/JOU-14-32056; ENERGA; PII: en7106509
Journal Information:
Energies (Basel), Journal Name: Energies (Basel) Vol. 7 Journal Issue: 12; ISSN 1996-1073
Publisher:
MDPI AGCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
Switzerland
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 33 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (2)

Wear Properties of Ash Minerals in Biomass journal November 2018
Where can switchgrass production be more profitable than corn and soybean? An integrated subfield assessment in Iowa, USA journal May 2018

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09 BIOMASS FUELS
Biomass
corn stover
Landscape Environmental Assessment Framework
Subfield management
switchgrass