Most of the increase in ethanol production in the 2008-2012 period can be attributed to the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) and earlier federal energy legislation. The expansion in U.S. biofuel production, particularly ethanol, was the predominant cause of the elevated...

Rising prices on vegetable oils and animal fats have enabled dry mill ethanol plants to profitably extract corn oil from distillers’ dried grain. While the mandates under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 for grain based ethanol will level off at 15 billion gallons in 2015, the...

Rapidly expanding ethanol production in the U.S. was given further impetus with the passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 mandating a minimum production of 7.5 billion gallons of renewable fuels by 2012. The availability of the by-product feeds of ethanol production (corn gluten feed and meal...

Forecasts of global crop yields prior to planting have generally been single values, based on entirely past trends. Regression analysis testing a combination of data from ENSO (El Nino/Southern Oscillation) and ARMA models suggests that yield forecasting errors can be reduced, generating more...

Fuel ethanol demand is projected to increase because of proposed ban on methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) in gasoline, renewable fuels standard, and the revised eight-hour ozone standards. In this paper, several scenarios of increased fuel ethanol demand and its effects on crop and feed prices,...

Forests support rural livelihoods and food security in many developing countries by providing critical sources of food, medicine, shelter, building materials, fuels, and cash income. The increasing demand for forest products has enhanced rural livelihoods and enabled the expansion of domestic...

Smallholder farmers in many areas of the semiarid tropics are planting exotic tree species that provide alternative income sources, fuel, and building materials. While providing other benefits, these trees often occupy land that could produce annual food crops. This study uses a polyperiod,...

Agricultural expansion has traditionally led colonization of the Amazonian rainforest. Recently, pioneer farmers in the forest margins around Pucallpa, Peru, have been changing their production decisions and altering the deforestation process. In response to a government policy to protect...

That residents of Zimbabwe's Communal Areas (CAs) obtain a variety of goods and services from their natural woodlands has long been recognized. Little was known however, of the value or preferences of CA residents for these goods and services. This paper describes a study, carried out in...