Farmers’ Willingness to Grow Sweet Sorghum as a Cellulosic Bioenergy Crop: A Stated Choice Approach

Biofuel production must increase to 36 billion gallons by the year 2022, according to government mandates. The majority of this fuel must be produced from “advanced” or second-generation biofuel feedstocks after 2015. Advanced biofuel feedstocks include annual crops such as sweet sorghum. Kansas farmers are poised to be major producers of sweet sorghum for biofuels. A stated choice survey was administered to Kansas farmers to assess their willingness to grow sweet sorghum for biofuels under various contracting scenarios. Results show that farmers are willing to grow biomass for bioenergy under contract and that insurance availability plays an important role in their decision.