title: Prospects for dedicated energy crop production and attitudes towards agricultural straw use: The case of livestock farmers.
abstract: Second generation biofuels utilising agricultural by-products (e.g. straw), or dedicated energy crops (DECs) produced on 'marginal' land, have been called for. A structured telephone survey of 263 livestock farmers, predominantly located in the west or 'marginal' upland areas of England captured data on attitudes towards straw use and DECs. Combined with farm physical and business data, the survey results show that 7.2% and 6.3% of farmers would respectively consider growing SRC and miscanthus, producing respective maximum potential English crop areas of 54,603 ha and 43,859 ha. If higher market prices for straw occurred, most livestock farmers would continue to buy straw. Reasons for not being willing to consider growing DECs include concerns over land quality, committing land for a long time period, lack of appropriate machinery, profitability, and time to financial return; a range of moral, land quality, production conflict and lack of crop knowledge factors were also cited. Results demonstrate limited potential for the production of DECs on livestock farms in England. Changes in policy support to address farmer concerns with respect to DECs will be required to incentivise farmers to increase energy crop production. Policy support for DEC production must be cognisant of farm-level economic, tenancy and personal objectives.
authors.affiliation: Division of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Nottingham LE12 5RD, UK.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.affiliation: Division of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Nottingham LE12 5RD, UK.
authors.forename: N J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Glithero
authors.affiliation: Division of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Nottingham LE12 5RD, UK.
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Ramsden
keywords: Bioenergy; Livestock farmers; Marginal land
references.citation: Science. 2007 Feb 9;315(5813):808-10
references.pmid: 17289989
references.citation: Science. 2008 Feb 29;319(5867):1238-40
references.pmid: 18258860
references.citation: Environ Sci Technol. 2009 Feb 1;43(3):961-7
references.pmid: 19245043
references.citation: J Integr Plant Biol. 2010 Jan;52(1):112-21
references.pmid: 20074145
references.citation: J Environ Qual. 2011 Sep-Oct;40(5):1593-600
references.pmid: 21869522
references.citation: Appl Energy. 2013 Jul;107(100):209-218
references.pmid: 23825896
references.citation: Energy Policy. 2013 Aug;59(100):161-171
references.pmid: 24926116
references.citation: Agric Syst. 2012 Jun;109:53-64
references.pmid: 25540473
references.citation: Biomass Bioenergy. 2013 Aug;55:311-321
references.pmid: 27667905