Economic impacts of ethanol fuels from crops
This paper presents selected results of simulations of agricultural production of ethanol feedstocks from grains and sugar crops. Production levels of up to 5 billion gallons per year were simulated using various combinations of corn, high energy sorghum, sweet sorghum, and sugar beets. Major results include (1) at up to 2 billion gallons per year of ethanol, impacts on the agricultural sector are mild; (2) beyond 2 billion gallons per year, diversification away from corn appears to be necessary to avoid major feed price inflation; (3) farm income unambiguously rises in response to higher crop prices; and (4) exports of food grains are affected differently by alternative feedstocks, and high-energy sorghum shows a good potential for competing with food grains.
- Research Organization:
- Solar Energy Research Inst., Golden, CO (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-77CH00178
- OSTI ID:
- 5990359
- Report Number(s):
- SERI/TR-734-1320; ON: DE82001042
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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AGRICULTURE
ALCOHOL FUELS
ALCOHOLS
AVAILABILITY
BEETS
CEREALS
COMPUTER CODES
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
CROPS
DATA
ECONOMIC IMPACT
ETHANOL
ETHANOL FUELS
EXPORTS
FOOD
FUELS
GRAMINEAE
GRASS
HYDROXY COMPOUNDS
INDUSTRY
INFORMATION
LAND REQUIREMENTS
LAND USE
MAIZE
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NUMERICAL DATA
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
P CODES
PLANTS
PRICES
PRODUCTION
SIMULATION
SORGHUM
SOYBEANS
SUGAR BEETS
SYNTHETIC FUELS
THEORETICAL DATA
VEGETABLES