IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/aaea12/125016.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Environmental Impacts of Cellulosic Feedstock Production: A Case Study of a Cornbelt Aquifer

Author

Listed:
  • Moon, Jin-Young
  • Apland, Jeffrey
  • Folle, Solomon
  • Mulla, David J.

Abstract

The emergence of markets for cellulosic biofuel feedstocks may lead to substantive tradeoffs between economic and environmental goals in agricultural regions, and will raise environmental and energy policy concerns. This paper examines the potential tradeoffs between cellulosic feedstock production and water quality and analyzes policy options to address those tradeoffs for a northern corn-belt watershed. Policy alternatives considered include restrictions on total nitrate-N load in the watershed and production subsidies for switchgrass - an energy crop with potential environmental benefits. Restricting nitrate-N loads increases the cost of cellulosic feedstock supply and in some circumstances makes switchgrass production an economical alternative. Switchgrass production subsidies, if sufficiently high can increase feedstock supply while reducing or eliminating the negative effects of feedstock production on water quality.

Suggested Citation

  • Moon, Jin-Young & Apland, Jeffrey & Folle, Solomon & Mulla, David J., 2012. "Environmental Impacts of Cellulosic Feedstock Production: A Case Study of a Cornbelt Aquifer," 2012 Annual Meeting, August 12-14, 2012, Seattle, Washington 125016, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aaea12:125016
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.125016
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/125016/files/2012%20AAEA%20Paper%20MOON%20ET%20AL.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.125016?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Spreen, Thomas H., 2006. "Price Endogenous Mathematical Programming Models and Trade Analysis," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 38(2), pages 1-5, August.
    2. Egbendewe-Mondzozo, Aklesso & Swinton, Scott M. & Izaurralde, R. Cesar & Manowitz, David H. & Zhang, Xuesong, 2010. "Biomass Supply from Alternative Cellulosic Crops and Crop Residues: A Preliminary Spatial Bioeconomic Modeling Approach," Staff Paper Series 98277, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    3. Rabotyagov, Sergey S. & Campbell, Todd & Jha, Manoj & Gassman, Philip W. & Arnold, Jeffrey G. & Kurkalova, Lyubov A. & Secchi, Silvia & Feng, Hongli & Kling, Catherine L., 2010. "Least Cost Control of Agricultural Nutrient Contributions to the Gulf of Mexico Hypoxic Zone," Staff General Research Papers Archive 31319, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    4. L.A. Kurkalova & S. Secchi & P.W. Gassman, 2010. "Corn Stover Harvesting: Potential Supply and Water Quality Implications," Natural Resource Management and Policy, in: Madhu Khanna & Jürgen Scheffran & David Zilberman (ed.), Handbook of Bioenergy Economics and Policy, chapter 0, pages 307-323, Springer.
    5. Bruce A. McCarl & Thomas H. Spreen, 1980. "Price Endogenous Mathematical Programming As a Tool for Sector Analysis," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 62(1), pages 87-102.
    6. J.B. (Hans) Opschoor, 2009. "Sustainability," Chapters, in: Jan Peil & Irene van Staveren (ed.), Handbook of Economics and Ethics, chapter 69, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. Ribaudo, Marc O. & Heimlich, Ralph & Claassen, Roger & Peters, Mark, 2001. "Least-cost management of nonpoint source pollution: source reduction versus interception strategies for controlling nitrogen loss in the Mississippi Basin," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 183-197, May.
    8. Xiaoguang Chen & Hayri Önal, 2012. "Modeling Agricultural Supply Response Using Mathematical Programming and Crop Mixes," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 94(3), pages 674-686.
    9. Smith, David J. & Schulman, Candi & Current, Dean & Easter, K. William, 2011. "Willingness of Agricultural Landowners to Supply Perennial Energy Crops," 2011 Annual Meeting, July 24-26, 2011, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 103930, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    10. Secchi, Silvia & Gassman, Philip W. & Jha, Manoj K. & Kurkalova, Lyubov A. & Kling, Catherine L., 2008. "The Water Quality Effects of Corn Ethanol vs Switchgrass Based Biofuels in the Midwest," Environmental and Rural Development Impacts Conference, October 15-16, 2008, St. Louis, Missouri 53498, Farm Foundation, Transition to a Bio Economy Conferences.
    11. Ribaudo, Marc & Delgado, Jorge & Hansen, LeRoy T. & Livingston, Michael J. & Mosheim, Roberto & Williamson, James M., 2011. "Nitrogen in Agricultural Systems: Implications for Conservation Policy," Economic Research Report 118022, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    12. Malcolm, Scott A., 2008. "Weaning Off Corn: Crop Residues and the Transition to Cellulosic Ethanol," Environmental and Rural Development Impacts Conference, October 15-16, 2008, St. Louis, Missouri 53500, Farm Foundation, Transition to a Bio Economy Conferences.
    13. Bruce A. McCarl, 1982. "Cropping Activities in Agricultural Sector Models: A Methodological Proposal," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 64(4), pages 768-772.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xu, Yuelu & Elbakidze, Levan & Yen, Haw & Arnold, Jeffrey G. & Gassman, Philip W. & Hubbart, Jason & Strager, Michael P., 2022. "Integrated assessment of nitrogen runoff to the Gulf of Mexico," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    2. Chen, Xiaoguang, 2016. "Economic potential of biomass supply from crop residues in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 141-149.
    3. McCarl, Bruce A. & Apland, Jeffrey, 1986. "Validation Of Linear Programming Models," Southern Journal of Agricultural Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 18(2), pages 1-10, December.
    4. Chen, Xiaoguang & Önal, Hayri, 2016. "Renewable energy policies and competition for biomass: Implications for land use, food prices, and processing industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 270-278.
    5. Alig, Ralph J. & Adams, Darius M. & McCarl, Bruce A., 1998. "Impacts of Incorporating Land Exchanges Between Forestry and Agriculture in Sector Models," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 30(2), pages 389-401, December.
    6. Yongxi Ma & Lu Zhang & Shixiong Song & Shuao Yu, 2022. "Impacts of Energy Price on Agricultural Production, Energy Consumption, and Carbon Emission in China: A Price Endogenous Partial Equilibrium Model Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-14, March.
    7. Nunez, H., 2018. "Building a Bioethanol Market in Mexico," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 275921, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    8. Cooper, Joseph C. & Peters, Mark & Claassen, Roger, 2003. "Effects Of Agri-Environmental Payment Policies On Agricultural Trade," 2003 Annual meeting, July 27-30, Montreal, Canada 22240, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    9. Chen, Xiaoguang & Khanna, Madhu, 2014. "Indirect Land Use Effects of Corn Ethanol in the U.S: Implications for the Conservation Reserve Program," 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota 170284, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    10. McCarl, Bruce A., 1992. "Mathematical Programming For Resource Policy Appraisal Under Multiple Objectives," Working Papers 11888, Environmental and Natural Resources Policy Training Project.
    11. Nuñez, Hector M., 2016. "Biofuel Potential in Mexico: Land Use, Economic and Environmental Effects," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 236067, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    12. Ellis, John R. & Hughes, David W. & Butcher, Walter R., 1991. "Economic Modeling Of Farm Production And Conservation Decisions In Response To Alternative Resource And Environmental Policies," Northeastern Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 20(1), pages 1-11, April.
    13. Xu, Yuelu & Elbakidze, Levan, 2021. "Integrated assessment of N runoff in the Gulf of Mexico: an application of spatially explicit partial equilibrium and HAWQS models," 2021 Annual Meeting, August 1-3, Austin, Texas 313917, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    14. Johansson, Robert C. & Claassen, Roger & Peters, Mark, 2002. "New Conservation Initiatives In The 2002 Farm Bill," 2002 Annual meeting, July 28-31, Long Beach, CA 19760, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    15. Oliver, Anthony & Khanna, Madhu, 2013. "Renewable Energy Policies for the Electricity, Transportation, and Agricultural Sectors: Complements or Substitutes," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 150406, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    16. Kooten, G. Cornelis van, 2013. "Modeling Forest Trade in Logs and Lumber: Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis," Working Papers 149182, University of Victoria, Resource Economics and Policy.
    17. Roy, René & Baker, Laurie & Thomassin, Paul J., 2013. "Estimating the Cost of Agricultural Pollution Abatement: Establishing Beneficial Management Practices in the Bras d’Henri Watershed," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 150956, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    18. David Walker, 2014. "The Economic Potential for Forest-Based Carbon Sequestration under Different Emissions Targets and Accounting Schemes," Working Papers 2014.02, School of Economics, La Trobe University.
    19. Hof, John G. & Loomis, John B., 1983. "A Recreation Optimization Model Based On The Travel Cost Method," Western Journal of Agricultural Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 8(1), pages 1-10, July.
    20. Lambert, David K. & McCarl, Bruce A. & He, Quifen & Kaylen, Michael S. & Rosenthal, Wesley & Chang, Ching-Cheng & Nayda, W.I., 1995. "Uncertain Yields In Sectoral Welfare Analysis: An Application To Global Warming," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 27(2), pages 1-14, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Crop Production/Industries; Environmental Economics and Policy; Land Economics/Use; Resource /Energy Economics and Policy;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:aaea12:125016. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaeaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.