Land Allocation for Biomass Crops

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

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2. Introduction

   • Ruopu Li, Andrea Monti

   Pages 1-6

3. Trends in Land Use in Spain and their Meaning to Bioenergy Production

   • Javier Sánchez, Pedro Luis Aguado, María Dolores Curt, Jesús Fernández

   Pages 7-38

4. Areas with Natural Constraints to Agriculture: Possibilities and Limitations for The Cultivation of Switchgrass (Panicum Virgatum L.) and Giant Reed (Arundo Donax L.) in Europe

   • Parenti Andrea, Lambertini Carla, Andrea Monti

   Pages 39-63

5. The Availability and Economic Analyses of Using Marginal Land for Bioenergy Production in China

   • Yuqi Chen, Xiubin Li, Xudong Guo, Chunyan Lv

   Pages 65-82

6. Production of Energy Crops in Heavy Metals Contaminated Land: Opportunities and Risks

   • Bruno Barbosa, Jorge Costa, Ana Luisa Fernando

   Pages 83-102

7. Farmers’ Acreage Responses to the Expansion of the Sugarcane Ethanol Industry: The Case of Goiás and Mato Grosso Do Sul, Brazil

   • Gabriel Granco, Marcellus Caldas, Allen Featherstone, Ana Cláudia Sant’Anna, Jason Bergtold

   Pages 103-123

8. Growing Switchgrass in the Corn Belt: Barriers and Drivers from an Iowa Survey

   • Sarah Varble, Silvia Secchi

   Pages 125-144

9. Impact of Stover Collection on Iowa Land Use

   • Lyubov A. Kurkalova, Dat Q. Tran

   Pages 145-157

10. Spatial-Temporal Change of Agricultural Biomass and Carbon Capture Capability in the Mid-South of Hebei Province

    • Yucui Zhang, Qiaoli Hu, Dengpan Xiao, Xingran Liu, Yanjun Shen

    Pages 159-187

11. Changes in Nitrogen Application and Conservation Reserve Program Area from Cellulosic Biofuel Production in the United States

    • Jerome Dumortier

    Pages 189-209

12. Back Matter

    Pages 211-217

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This edited volume establishes a forum for international experts to explore cutting-edge questions associated with the land use and biomass production. Topics include ‘do we have enough land, either primary or marginal, to accommodate future production of biomass?’, ‘how are farming decisions made in response to biomass incentives?’, ‘is the current bio-mass production socially, economically and environmentally sustainable?’, and ‘what are the main constraints currently limiting biofuel deployment?’

The expansion of biomass production is often at the cost of reduced land availability for food production and losses of areas with ecological functions such as forests and wetlands. This process often involves complex interplay of physical dynamics and human systems that are driven by numerous geographic and socio-economic factors at different scales. Thus, the state-of-the-art research on the land use issues surrounding the biomass production and its environmental impacts is important for informed land management decision making. This book will be of great use to researchers in land use management and biomass-based renewable energy, as well as practitioners.

• Land areas for biomass production
• Land availability
• Biomass sustainability
• Bioenergy end uses
• Energy crops
• Conservation compliance
• Biophysical constraints for land allocation
• GIS-based multi-criteria land suitability analysis
• Spatio-temporal dynamics in biomass yield and productivity
• Energy-intensive input use reduction
• Acreage response model
• Food security
• Cellulosic biofuel production
• Production of energy crops in contaminated lands
• natural resources and energy economics
• Environmental Geography

• Department of Geography and Environmental Resources, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, Carbondale, USA

  Ruopu Li

• Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

  Andrea Monti

Prof. Ruopu Li is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Resources at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. His research interests include biomass-related land use modeling, water resources modeling and management, and spatial data analytics. His recent research focuses on natural resources constraints on biomass cultivation and nonpoint source pollution associated with the crop production.

Prof. Andrea Monti is full Professor in crop science at the University of Bologna. He is the head of the Research Group of Industrial Crops in the Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences. His current research activity mainly focuses on lignocellulosic and oil crops. During the last 10 years he took part in more than 15 international projects on non-food crops, and presently, he coordinates an EU-Brazil cooperation project on advanced biofuels (BECOOL).

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