The egg production and processing industry has a significant impact on Iowa's economy. And if consumer demand for eggs continues to increase and Iowa continues its commitment to grow the industry, expansion of Iowa's egg industry will continue.

During the past half century, per-acre maize yields have increased due to improved cultivars, better management, and favorable weather.  Recent US biofuel legislation, e.g., revised Renewable Fuel Standard, has increased the demand for bio-fuel and added competition for available cropland. ...

This study examines aggregate county income growth across the 48 contiguous states from 1990 to 2005. To control for endogeneity, we estimate a two-stage spatial error model and implement a number of spatial bootstrap routines to infer parameter significance. Among the results, we find that...

The potential of biomass for alternative energy production has attracted considerable attention because of associated implications for energy security, food supply, and climate change. This paper considers the economic impacts of spatial variation and landowner behavior on potential biomass...

A recent scientific publication stated that to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, the most permanent and rapid solution would be to sink crop residues to the ocean floor where they would be buried in deep ocean sediments. However, mitigating rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations by removing crop...

With rapid expansion of biofuel production, major concerns have arisen over higher food costs and competition between food, feed, and biofuel for energy-rich commodities.  Most projections are based on short- and intermediate-term commodity price shocks.  We estimate long-term biofuel demand...

We present results from an application of the Biofuel Breakeven program (BioBreak) to 14 US cellulosic ethanol markets that vary by feedstock and location.  BioBreak estimates the economic costs of cellulosic biofuel production for each market and identifies the necessary conditions to sustain...

We develop a long-run cost model for cellulosic biofuel production that accounts for locational differences in biomass production conditions.  The cost model minimizes the per-gallon cost of biofuel when feedstock costs vary within local biomass-producing regions and plant size is determined by...

 The objectives of this paper include: 1) developing an economic framework to estimate long run equilibrium breakeven prices that cellulosic ethanol processors can pay for the marginal or last unit of biomass feedstock they purchase and still breakeven and that cellulosic feedstock producers...