scholarly journals Dynamics and Uncertainty in Land Use Conversion for Perennial Energy Crop Production: Exploring Effects of Payments for Ecosystem Services Policies

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (02) ◽  
pp. 328-358
Author(s):  
Xiaogu Li ◽  
Katherine Y. Zipp
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Biofuel Production ◽  
Energy Crop ◽  
Payments For Ecosystem Services ◽  
Chesapeake Bay Watershed ◽  
Nitrogen Runoff ◽  
Perennial Energy Crops

Perennial energy crops like switchgrass that are used for biofuel production have the potential to generate various water quality benefits such as reduced nitrogen runoff. Yet the current expected returns to switchgrass are not profitable enough for these crops to be widely adopted by U.S. farmers due to relatively unstable yields, volatile revenues, and high costs of crop establishment. This study uses a dynamic economic model to investigate the uncertainties in the yields and costs of switchgrass production, in comparison with those of corn-soybeans in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed in Pennsylvania. Results indicate that farmers would be willing to convert corn-soybeans to switchgrass land use with the provision of payments for ecosystem services (PES). A targeted PES policy based on the environmental effectiveness of the crop land is found to be slightly more effective in providing nitrogen reductions than a uniform PES policy with cost savings of 8–19%. Moreover, switchgrass has the potential of providing energy supply while reducing greenhouse gases emissions.

scholarly journals Impacts of Urbanization and Associated Factors on Ecosystem Services in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Urban Agglomeration, China: Implications for Land Use Policy

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 4334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yushuo Zhang ◽  
Xiao Lu ◽  
Boyu Liu ◽  
Dianting Wu
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Population Density ◽  
Spatial Patterns ◽  
Primary Productivity ◽  
Soil Conservation ◽  
Associated Factors ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Water Retention ◽  
Net Primary Productivity

Conflicts between ecological conservation and socio-economic development persisted over many decades in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration (BTH). Ecosystem services were affected drastically by rapid urbanization and ecological restoration programs in the BTH since 2000. This study aims to identify the spatial patterns of the four types of ecosystem services (net primary productivity (NPP), crop production, water retention, and soil conservation) in 2000 and 2010, and to make clear the impacts of urbanization and associated factors on the spatial patterns of ecosystem services. Based on the quantification of ecosystem services, we assessed the spatial patterns and changes, and identified the relationships between the type diversity of ecosystem services and land-use change. We also analyzed the effect of the spatial differentiation of influencing factors on ecosystem services, using the geographical detector model. The results showed that the average value of crop production increased substantially between 2000 and 2010, whereas the net primary productivity decreased significantly, and the water retention and soil conservation decreased slightly. The ecosystem services exhibited a spatial similar to that of influencing factors, and the combination of any two factors strengthened the spatial effect more than a single factor. The geomorphic factors (elevation and slope) were found to control the distribution of NPP, water retention, and soil conservation. The population density was responsible for crop production. We also found that the urbanization rate plays a major indirect role in crop production and water retention when interacting with population density and slope, respectively. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) indirectly influences the spatial distribution of NPP when interacting with geomorphic factors. These findings highlight the need to promote new strategies of land-use management in the BTH. On the one hand, it is necessary to carefully select where new urban land should be located in order to relieve the pressure on ecosystem services in dense urban areas. On the other hand, the maintenance of ecological restoration programs is needed for improving vegetation coverage in the ecological functional zones in the medium and long term.

scholarly journals Biomass Properties for Mechanization of Conditioning Processes

2006 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 145
Author(s):  
Ē. Kronbergs ◽  
M. Šmits
Keyword(s):  
Crop Production ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Ecosystem Approach ◽  
Biofuel Production ◽  
Energy Crop ◽  
Emission Mitigation ◽  
Solid Biofuel ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Living Organisms ◽  
Oil Fuel

Substitution of fossil feedstock for energy and raw materials by biomass is important measure for GHG emission mitigation. Development of energy crop production and agricultural residue utilisation for energy are important goals of the rural policy. As chemical fertiliser production and usage corresponds to the consumption of oil fuel, biomass usage directly for energy production or as fertiliser are activities with equal importance. The main rural resources for biomass eco-technologies in Latvia are cereal straw residues, energy crops, emergent vegetation and peat from wetlands and sediments from lakes. Wide range of biomass properties cause necessity of appropriate mechanization equipment for biomass conditioning accordingly collection, conversion and usage technologies. The ecosystem approach means taking into account the interrelationships among land, air water and all living organisms including humans for mechanization equipment design of biomass technologies. Complex mechanisation of biomass technologies is based on implementation of ecosystem approach and investigation of properties of biomass in conditioning processes. For solid biofuel production densification properties of chopped stalk materials with different additives (peat, rapeseed cake) had been determined.

Energy crop production in an urban area: a comparison of habitat types and land use forms targeting economic benefits and impact on species diversity

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 615-623 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Brunzel ◽  
Jacinta Kellermann ◽  
Milen Nachev ◽  
Bernd Sures ◽  
Daniel Hering
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Species Diversity ◽  
Urban Area ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Energy Crop ◽  
Habitat Types

scholarly journals Perceptions of Energy Crop Production by Lay People and Farmers Using the Ecosystem Services Approach

2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 15-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerd Lupp ◽  
Olaf Bastian ◽  
Ralf-Uwe Syrbe ◽  
Reimund Steinhäußer
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Landscape Management ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Energy Crop ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Lay Persons ◽  
Legal Frameworks

Abstract Perceptions of energy crop production are assessed in this paper. The Görlitz district (Germany) serves as a case study area for this purpose. Semi-structured interviews with farmers and standardized surveys among lay persons were conducted. Many farmers perceive themselves being responsible for providing many ecosystem services. Farmers prefer a regional scale of energy crop cultivation based on conventional crops. Improved legal frameworks and incentives would safeguard equal competition and ecosystem services. Laypersons think that drinking water, food production, biodiversity and pollination are the most important ecosystem services of agricultural landscapes. Providing biomass for renewable energy production is not considered to be an important ecosystem service. Laypersons believe that biomass production should be restricted to fields that are not needed for food production, and the use of residues or landscape management materials. According to laypersons, more money should be spent to halt the decline of ecosystem services.

scholarly journals Planning land use for biogas energy crop production: The potential of cutaway peat production lands

2016 ◽  
Vol 85 ◽  
pp. 355-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kari Laasasenaho ◽  
Anssi Lensu ◽  
Jukka Rintala
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Energy Crop ◽  
Biogas Energy

scholarly journals Integrating Biophysical and Sociocultural Methods for Identifying the Relationships between Ecosystem Services and Land Use Change: Insights from an Oasis Area

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 2598 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hejie Wei ◽  
Weiguo Fan ◽  
Nachuan Lu ◽  
Zihan Xu ◽  
Huiming Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Water Yield ◽  
Performance Improvements ◽  
Primary Driver ◽  
Oasis Area

Identifying the relationships between ecosystem services (ESs) and land use change is crucial for ES management and sustainable regional development. The Manas region in China has witnessed dramatic reclamation activities in its desert areas that resulted in ecological problems. The changes in eight ESs, including crop production (CP), livestock production (LP), soil conservation (SC), water yield (WY), sand fixation (SF), carbon sequestration (CS), habitat quality (HQ), and nature landscape recreation (NLR), were investigated by using biophysical and questionnaire methods. At the regional scale, provisioning services (i.e., CP and LP) showed some performance improvements, whereas most of the regulating services (i.e., WY, CS, and HQ) along with NLR showed a performance decline. Five ES bundles—Upper Mountain, Foothill, Oasis, Oasis–Desert Transition, and Desert bundle—were identified at the township scale via k-means clustering. From 2000 to 2015, the Oasis bundle sprawled as a result of oasisization, whereas the Oasis–Desert Transition and Foothill bundles decreased. We performed a questionnaire survey and a statistical analysis to identify the causes behind the performance improvement/decline of these ESs and found that the land use changes in the Manas region had a significant impact on these services. More than 50% of the survey respondents identified land use changes as the primary driver of the changes in some ESs (i.e., CP, CS, HQ, and NLR). In the correlation and partial correlation analyses, oasisization was significantly and positively correlated with CP but was negatively correlated with WY, CS, HQ, and NLR. We enhanced the reliability of our conclusions by integrating biophysical and sociocultural methods into our investigation of ES and land use change. In view of the huge losses in regulating and cultural services, the Manas region should limit its desert reclamation activities to control the expansion of its oasis and to improve the quality of its cropland. Our results can help formulate effective ES management and land use decisions in the Manas region or similar areas.

scholarly journals Examination of first generation biofuel production in some selected biofuel producing countries in Europe: A case study

2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (No. 10) ◽  
pp. 469-476
Author(s):  
Katalin Takács-György ◽  
Anett Lászlók ◽  
István Takács
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Logistic Function ◽  
Biofuel Production ◽  
The Eu

The EU is committed to increasing the use of renewable energy sources. In the sector of transportation, the share of renewable energy is to reach 10% by 2020 and 14% by 2030, respectively, in the EU. According to the latest forecasts, the production of the first-generation biofuels made from food raw materials is showing a declining tendency in the main European producing countries. Therefore, the objective of our research is to forecast the production of some selected biofuel producing countries within the EU as well as the traditional biofuel production in Hungary. The question of land use changes due to the new regulations is crucial. Our examinations were carried out by using Verhulst’s logistic function based on the biofuel production data of EUROSTAT. The function has already reached the saturation level in Germany, France and Sweden but in the case of other examined countries, biofuel production is also in the phase of slowing growth. Furthermore, findings are also justified by the 2015 regulation that restricts the share of producing first-generation biofuels in the final energy consumption to 7% and promotes the production of advanced biofuels, thereby decreasing the indirect change in land use and increasing sustainable crop production.

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