Marginal Agricultural Land Low-Input Systems for Biomass Production

Abstract

This study deals with approaches for a social-ecological friendly European bioeconomy based on biomass from industrial crops cultivated on marginal agricultural land. The selected crops to be investigated are: Biomass sorghum, camelina, cardoon, castor, crambe, Ethiopian mustard, giant reed, hemp, lupin, miscanthus, pennycress, poplar, reed canary grass, safflower, Siberian elm, switchgrass, tall wheatgrass, wild sugarcane, and willow. The research question focused on the overall crop growth suitability under low-input management. The study assessed: (i) How the growth suitability of industrial crops can be defined under the given natural constraints of European marginal agricultural lands; and (ii) which agricultural practices are required for marginal agricultural land low-input systems (MALLIS). For the growth-suitability analysis, available thresholds and growth requirements of the selected industrial crops were defined. The marginal agricultural land was categorized according to the agro-ecological zone (AEZ) concept in combination with the marginality constraints, so-called ‘marginal agro-ecological zones’ (M-AEZ). It was found that both large marginal agricultural areas and numerous agricultural practices are available for industrial crop cultivation on European marginal agricultural lands. These results help to further describe the suitability of industrial crops for the development of social-ecologically friendly MALLIS in Europe.

The replacement of maize (Zea mays L.) by cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum L.) as biogas substrate and its implications for the energy and material flows of a large biogas plant

“…The provision of a basic energy supply and options for flexible power generation are thus necessary. Biogas production provides stable bioenergy generation, and various scholars view bioenergy production from biomass as the most prudent current option to serve flexible consumption demands …”

“…Biogas production provides stable bioenergy generation, [18][19][20] and various scholars view bioenergy production from biomass as the most prudent current option to serve flexible consumption demands. 4,5,[21][22][23][24][25][26][27] As part of the EEG, the German government has supported the countrywide development of biogas plants financially. 8 Since the law came into force, the number of biogas plants in Germany has risen from 1050 in 2000 to almost 9500 in 2018, 28 generating a total of almost 8000 MW in 2017.…”

Improving the Ecological Performance of Miscanthus (Miscanthus × giganteus Greef et Deuter) through Intercropping with Woad (Isatis tinctoria L.) and Yellow Melilot (Melilotus officinalis L.)

“…Another requirement is that biomass production for bioenergy or bio-based materials should not compete with food crop production, e.g., through competition for land or resources [8][9][10]. For this purpose, there has been a research focus on industrial crops, which can provide ecosystem services and are suitable for low-input cultivation on marginal agricultural land [11,12]. Compared with external input intensive crop cultivation on good agricultural land, these enable more social-ecologically benign biomass production with (i) less negative environmental externalities [13] and (ii) less land use competition with food crop cultivation, because they can grow on marginal agricultural land, such as erosion-prone sites, contaminated sites, or sandy soil [14][15][16].…”

The Performance of Mesotrophic Arrhenatheretum Grassland under Different Cutting Frequency Regimes for Biomass Production in Southwest Germany

“…Grasslands with high plant diversity also enable higher biomass productivity in the long term than less diverse grasslands [68]. However, the importance of higher species diversity for the resilience [69] of the grassland system is currently the subject of controversy [8,70], especially in view of the expected severe effects of climate change on agriculture [62,63,71,72].…”