Valuing the Seed of an Improved Switchgrass Cultivar

Abstract

ABSTRACTSwitchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) has been identified as a model perennial grass species to compete with alternative sources for providing biomass to fulfill cellulosic biofuels provisions of the US Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. The objective of this study is to determine the value of a more productive switchgrass variety relative to that of the best available alternative. Biomass data were produced in an experiment with four commercial switchgrass cultivars (Alamo, Blackwell, Kanlow, and Cave‐in‐Rock) and five experimental lines over 4 yr at Stillwater, OK. One of the experimental lines, Cimarron, was released as a cultivar in 2008 during the experiment. The remaining four experimental lines were NL93‐2, NSL 2001‐1, NL 94‐2001‐1, and NSU 95‐2001. An ANOVA model is used to test for differences in switchgrass yield. Enterprise budgets are used to calculate net returns and stochastic efficiency analysis is used to investigate yield risk. For a farm‐gate biomass price of $50 Mg−1, expected net returns were estimated to be $80 ha−1 yr−1 greater in postestablishment years for Cimarron than for Alamo. Assuming a year for establishment, nine postestablishment production years, a farm‐gate biomass price of $50 Mg−1, a discount rate of 6.5%, and environmental conditions similar to those that prevailed during the field experiment, the net present value of seeding a field in the region to Cimarron rather than Alamo would be $501 ha−1.