Socio-Economic Opportunities from Miscanthus Cultivation in Marginal Land for Bioenergy

Calliope Panoutsou,David Chiaramonti

doi:10.3390/en13112741

Calliope Panoutsou, David Chiaramonti

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/en13112741

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Abstract

Substantial areas of agricultural land in south European countries are becoming increasingly marginal and being abandoned due to arid climate with prolonged summers and low rainfall. Perennial, lignocellulosic crops, such as Miscanthus, offer an outlet that couples agriculture with energy, creates employment, and increases profits from feedstock production in rural areas. This research paper follows an Input Output methodology and uses an econometric model to investigate the impact of crop yielding performance and marginal land to jobs and profit from the cultivation and supply of Miscanthus in low quality, marginal land in Italy and Greece. Two value chain cases are analysed: small scale Combined Heat and Power (CHP) and Fast Pyrolysis Bio Oil (FPBO). The cultivation of Miscanthus in both reference value chains exhibits good employment prospects, with smaller scale value chains creating more labour-intensive logistics operations. The activities can also generate substantial financial profit especially with higher crop yields. Results show a pronounced relationship between profitability and crop yield for both reference value chains - cultivation and supply operations become more profitable with increasing yield. It is, therefore, important to achieve higher yields through good cropping practices, while maintaining high levels of environmental sustainability.

Highlights

Agriculture in south European countries faces increasing bio-physical and socio-economic limitations
The results present model estimates for employment and profit generated by feedstock production and logistics for the two value chains under a range of yields (10–15 dry tonnes/ha/year) in low quality, marginal land [85,86,87]
The crop selling price that has been used across the modelling estimations for all yielding capacities and value chains is 100 Euro/dry tonne delivered at the plant gate [89,90]

Summary

Introduction

Agriculture in south European countries faces increasing bio-physical and socio-economic limitations. Bio-physical limitations, including soil erosion [1], runoff and degradation that lead to soil organic carbon and fertility losses, relate mostly to climatic conditions [2] characterised by prolonged dry, hot summers and winters with low rainfall levels These in turn lead to socio-economic limitations: lower crop yields and reduced competitiveness in national and international markets cause farmers to abandon the land and look for income opportunities in non-agricultural sectors. Non-food, lignocellulosic crops, such as Miscanthus, can offer an outlet that couples agriculture with energy, generates employment and creates added value in rural areas [3,4,5] These crops can grow on low quality land and avoid or reduce competition with food production [6]. They can exhibit high yields, have low environmental impact if cultivated in a sustainable way [7], improve soil carbon [8,9], and be used for a variety of energy and other biobased products [10,11]

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