Farmer willingness to grow switchgrass for energy production

Abstract

Increasing demand for the production of energy from renewable sources has fueled a search for alternatives to supplement those currently in production. One such alternative is switchgrass, a perennial grass native to North America that appears to have considerable potential as a biomass feedstock for energy production. While the properties of switchgrass as a biomass feedstock have been intensively studied, the potential market for switchgrass has received much less attention. A survey of Tennessee farmers was conducted to improve our understanding of those who might be willing to supply switchgrass to an emerging energy market. The results of this survey provide information on the willingness of Tennessee's agricultural producers to grow switchgrass as an energy crop and the acreage that these producers would be willing to convert to switchgrass production. The majority of respondents had not heard of growing switchgrass for energy production and roughly half were unsure as to whether they would be willing to grow switchgrass. For those with an opinion about whether they would grow switchgrass, a two limit Tobit model of acreage share was used to ascertain the effects of various farm and producer characteristics on the share of acreage they would be willing to convert to switchgrass.

Switching to Perennial Energy Crops Under Uncertainty and Costly Reversibility

“…Unlike traditional crops, most energy crops are new to American farmers. A 2005 survey conducted in Tennessee found that most respondents had not heard of growing switchgrass for biofuel production (Jensen et al 2007). Hence, farmers will need to invest time in order to learn how best to grow these crops.…”

Enhancing solubilisation and methane production kinetic of switchgrass by microwave pretreatment

“…As a perennial grass, switchgrass need only be planted once every 10 years or more, but can be harvested annually using conventional hay equipment. In Europe, research on perennial grasses as a crop for bioenergy was focused on Miscanthus but showed some limitations such as its high price for establishment (Casler et al, 2007;Jensen et al, 2007;Cheng, 2009, 2010).…”

Impact of mechanical, chemical and enzymatic pre-treatments on the methane yield from the anaerobic digestion of switchgrass

“…The use of energy crops, mainly corn silage, is also widely spread in the farm-scale anaerobic digesters treating manure, to increase the methane yield and the resulting net renewable energy production [5,6]. Panicum vergatum, or switchgrass, is a high yielding (13e18 tonnes(t) ha À1 in Southeastern United States), warm season, perennial grass that can grow more than 2.75 m in height [7]. It was chosen as the model lignocellulosic crop by the US Department of Energy in the 90s and is believed to return 540% more renewable energy than fossil fuel consumption [8], compared to 25% for maize [9].…”