Economic Evaluation and Conceptual Design of Optimal Agricultural Systems for Production of Food and Energy. Draft Final Report, July 1, 1979-September 30, 1983

摘要

This report covers the first year of work of a research project that is designed to help resolve the issues that govern the feasibility of producing significant amounts of ethanol from agricultural crops without interfering with the availability, or raising the price of, food. In this period studies were designed to answer two specific questions: (1) Is it technically feasible, on physical considerations alone, to produce significant amounts of ethanol from agricultural biomass sources. (2) How could a representative Illinois grain farm motivated by profit maximization respond to the technical and economic opportunities for ethanol production. The results of these studies suggest that Midwestern agriculture will, in response to expected increases in energy prices, begin a significant move toward ethanol production, as a means of maximizing net profit. Unless steps are taken to foster the introduction of alternative crops (of which hybrid, high-yield beets are the most promising) this process will interfere with the production of livestock feed, and tend to raise food prices. A properly organized system, however, would not only produce significant amounts of ethanol, but would also maintain present feed production levels, and improve soil conservation. 91 references, 24 figures, 39 tables. (ERA citation 10:012626)