The impact of biogas plants on regional dynamics of permanent grassland and maize area—The example of Hesse, Germany (2005–2010)

Abstract

The fostering of bioenergy by European and German energy policies in recent years has led to a strong increase in the cultivation of energy crops, especially maize for biogas production. Contemporaneously, in Germany the area of permanent grassland has significantly decreased. In this context, energy maize is often discussed to affect the conversion of grassland. The aim of this study was to examine the area changes of maize and permanent grassland and to analyse if there is a relationship to biogas plants. For comparison, livestock farming as another possible influencing factor was implemented, too. The study was conducted at two spatial levels: the first was the German federal state Hesse as a whole, the second were five Hessian sub-regions clustered by prevailing agricultural land use and land-use change from 2005 to 2010. Correlation and regression analyses revealed the association of biogas plants and livestock density to three variables of agricultural land use, i.e. maize area, expansion of maize area and conversion of permanent grassland to arable land. Negative correlations between biogas plants and maize area were significant for Hesse and three sub-regions (−0.21 to −0.42). However, the positive correlations between livestock density and maize area were higher (0.33–0.66). Biogas plants were considerably negative related to the expansion of maize area on all spatial levels (−0.29 to −0.42). Conversion of grassland was less but still significantly related to biogas plants and livestock density. Biogas plants and livestock density can serve as an indicator for land-use change, especially for permanent grassland and maize area.