The role of social support on midwestern farmers’ willingness to grow perennial bioenergy crops

Yang, Boming; Yang, Pan; Golub, Emma; Cai, Ximing

doi:10.1016/j.biombioe.2023.106898

The role of social support on midwestern farmers’ willingness to grow perennial bioenergy crops

Journal Article · Fri Jul 07 00:00:00 EDT 2023 · Biomass and Bioenergy

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2023.106898· OSTI ID:1988575

^[1]; ^[2]; ^[3]; Cai, Ximing ^[3]

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States); CABBI
Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou (China); University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)

The lack of farmers' willingness to grow perennial bioenergy crops (PBCs) presents a critical barrier to the emergence of cellulosic biofuel production. The willingness relies on a complex network of economic, environmental, and social drivers, among which the influence of social factors (e.g., the influence of neighborhood, community, and communication) is less understood. This study addresses this knowledge gap via a survey analysis of midwestern farmers. The survey data are analyzed through ordinary least square regression and structural equation model, which together investigate the individual and interactive impacts of multiple factors on farmers' decisions to adopt PBCs. Based on a farm-scale analysis, six statistically significant predictors of farmer willingness to grow PBCs are identified: perception of PBCs' environment benefits, education level, willingness to take risks, familiarity with PBCs, portion of peers already growing PBCs, and support of biorefineries locating in the local community. Among these, the latter three predictors are social support variables. It is found that familiarity with the crops is the most significant predictor of willingness; familiarity is also an important intermediate variable that mediates the influence of many other predictors. In addition, peer adoption can both directly and indirectly affect willingness via its influence on familiarity. Furthermore, these findings suggest that it is a pressing need to improve farmers’ knowledge of PBCs to promote the adoption of such crops.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), Urbana, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0018420

OSTI ID:: 1988575

Journal Information:: Biomass and Bioenergy, Journal Name: Biomass and Bioenergy Vol. 175; ISSN 0961-9534

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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