bio-economic static land use model for identifying alternative crop set for the sustainable resource use

Over-allocation of irrigation water has led to widespread environmental degradation in the Murray-Darling Basin, prompting discussions of the water efficiency performance of irrigated industries, particularly cotton. There is increasing pressure for irrigators to adopt water efficient practices...

The Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines (NR&M) is currently running the Vegetation Incentives Program (VIP), which pays landholders to protect and manage nonremnant vegetation on their properties. The program is using an auction mechanism to allocate the funding. Observing the...

The last decade has seen the nexus between increasing world population and the area of irrigated land broken, indicating that further population will need to be fed by improved water productivity rather than through increased irrigated area. But how much improvement is possible? This paper...

Biodiesel has recently drawn attention because of its potential to make an important contribution to national energy security and the environment. However, the rapid growth of biodiesel has raised concerns about biodiesel’s impact on the price level and volatility of agricultural commodities....

Using data from a survey of Iowa farmers we examine producers’ willingness to supply corn stover, corn cobs and energy grasses for biomass markets. We identify factors that affect producers’ interest in growing biomass crops as well critical barriers to participation. Choices among biomass...

A probabilistic financial model was developed to assess the economic feasibility of energy-cane-based hydrolysis ethanol production. At an expected price of $1.97/gallon and no tax credit, the chances of a positive NPV were 70%. By slightly increasing feedstock and ethanol yields by 5 units, the...