Winter barley can serve as an economically feasible ethanol feedstock

Graduation Date

2014

Document Type

Thesis

Program

Other

Program

Thesis (M.S.)--Humboldt State University, Environmental Systems: Energy, Environment, and Society, 2014

Committee Chair Name

Arne Jacobson

Committee Chair Affiliation

HSU Faculty or Staff

Keywords

Renewable energy, Winter grains, Ecosystem services, Ethanol, Humboldt State University -- Theses -- Environmental Systems, Ethanol economics, Alternatives to corn ethanol, Winter barley

Abstract

Land resources are becoming progressively more constrained with increasing demands for food, feed, fiber, and now fuel production; developing strategies to intensify crop production without increasing the negative impacts on water, soil, and air resources are critical. Much of our best agricultural lands are dominated by corn-soybean rotations with winter fallow periods. There has been interest in diversifying and intensify production of the farm landscape to improve water quality. Winter cover crops are one strategy to reduce nutrient losses over winter, but they have not been widely adopted. Harvested cover crops, or double crops, of winter small grains are common in some regions. The objective of this thesis was to quantify the value of ecosystem services along with crop residues from winter double crops as a bioenergy feedstock, to assess their potential as incentives for deployment into the landscape. The biogeochemical model DayCent was used to quantify the impact of winter double crops on nitrate leaching, nitrous oxide emissions, and soil carbon. A range of values for these ecosystem services was then evaluated, along with biomass, as potential economic incentives to increase the economic returns for planting these crops. Reduction in nitrate leaching was the highest valued ecosystem service provided by the winter double crops, then soil carbon and N2O emissions. Although rye provided significant yield and ecosystem services, it was never economic and was the most expensive winter double crop. However it was found that in addition to significant value from ecosystem services with planting winter small grains, they also had lower breakeven prices and yields leading to greater potential as a bioenergy feedstock. Considering the sensitivity of double crop rotation economics to soybean yields, and that north of the 40th parallel, barley has less impact on soybean yields than wheat, establishment of a bioenergy market for biomass could provide significant incentive for wide spread planting of winter barley as a double crop in corn soybean rotations, and realize significant environmental benefits.

https://scholarworks.calstate.edu/concern/theses/zk51vk378

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