IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v59y2013icp161-171.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Barriers and incentives to the production of bioethanol from cereal straw: A farm business perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Glithero, N.J.
  • Ramsden, S.J.
  • Wilson, P.

Abstract

The EU renewable energy directive stipulates a requirement for 10% of transport fuels to be derived from renewable sources by 2020. Second generation biofuels offer potential to contribute towards this target with cereal straw representing a potentially large feedstock source. From an on-farm survey of 240 arable farmers, timeliness of crop establishment and benefits of nutrient retention from straw incorporation were cited as reasons for straw incorporation. However, two-thirds (one-third) of farmers would supply wheat (barley) straw for bioenergy. The most popular contract length and continuous length of straw supply was either 1 or 3 years. Contracts stipulating a fixed area of straw supply for a fixed price were the most frequently cited preferences, with £50t−1 the most frequently cited minimum contract price that farmers would find acceptable. Arable farmers in England would be willing to sell 2.52Mt of cereal straw for bioenergy purposes nationally and 1.65Mt in the main cereal growing areas of Eastern England. Cereal straw would be diverted from current markets or on-farm uses and from straw currently incorporated into soil. Policy interventions may be required to incentivise farmers to engage in this market, but food and fuel policies must increasingly be integrated to meet societal goals.

Suggested Citation

  • Glithero, N.J. & Ramsden, S.J. & Wilson, P., 2013. "Barriers and incentives to the production of bioethanol from cereal straw: A farm business perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 161-171.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:59:y:2013:i:c:p:161-171
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2013.03.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421513001572
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2013.03.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sherrington, Chris & Moran, Dominic, 2010. "Modelling farmer uptake of perennial energy crops in the UK," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(7), pages 3567-3578, July.
    2. Sherrington, Chris & Bartley, Justin & Moran, Dominic, 2008. "Farm-level constraints on the domestic supply of perennial energy crops in the UK," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 2504-2512, July.
    3. Lobley, Matt & Butler, Allan, 2010. "The impact of CAP reform on farmers' plans for the future: Some evidence from South West England," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 341-348, August.
    4. Cherubini, Francesco & Ulgiati, Sergio, 2010. "Crop residues as raw materials for biorefinery systems - A LCA case study," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 47-57, January.
    5. J. Stuart Swanston & Adrian C. Newton, 2005. "Mixtures of UK Wheat as an Efficient and Environmentally Friendly Source for Bioethanol," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 9(3), pages 109-126, July.
    6. Piterou, Athena & Shackley, Simon & Upham, Paul, 2008. "Project ARBRE: Lessons for bio-energy developers and policy-makers," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 2044-2050, June.
    7. Glithero, N.J. & Ramsden, S.J. & Wilson, P., 2012. "Farm systems assessment of bioenergy feedstock production: Integrating bio-economic models and life cycle analysis approaches," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 53-64.
    8. Thornley, Patricia & Upham, Paul & Tomei, Julia, 2009. "Sustainability constraints on UK bioenergy development," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 5623-5635, December.
    9. Convery, I. & Robson, D. & Ottitsch, A. & Long, M., 2012. "The willingness of farmers to engage with bioenergy and woody biomass production: A regional case study from Cumbria," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 293-300.
    10. Mitchell, Catherine & Connor, Peter, 2004. "Renewable energy policy in the UK 1990-2003," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(17), pages 1935-1947, November.
    11. Naik, S.N. & Goud, Vaibhav V. & Rout, Prasant K. & Dalai, Ajay K., 2010. "Production of first and second generation biofuels: A comprehensive review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 578-597, February.
    12. Bomb, Christian & McCormick, Kes & Deurwaarder, Ewout & Kaberger, Tomas, 2007. "Biofuels for transport in Europe: Lessons from Germany and the UK," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 2256-2267, April.
    13. Alexander, Corinne & Ivanic, Rasto & Rosch, Stephanie & Tyner, Wallace & Wu, Steven Y. & Yoder, Joshua R., 2012. "Contract theory and implications for perennial energy crop contracting," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 970-979.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Giannoccaro, Giacomo & de Gennaro, Bernardo C. & De Meo, Emilio & Prosperi, Maurizio, 2017. "Assessing farmers' willingness to supply biomass as energy feedstock: Cereal straw in Apulia (Italy)," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 179-185.
    2. Zuo, Alec & Hou, Lingling & Huang, Zeying, 2020. "How does farmers' current usage of crop straws influence the willingness-to-accept price to sell?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    3. Prespa Ymeri & Csaba Gyuricza & Csaba Fogarassy, 2020. "Farmers’ Attitudes Towards the Use of Biomass as Renewable Energy—A Case Study from Southeastern Europe," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-18, May.
    4. Wilson, P. & Glithero, N.J. & Ramsden, S.J., 2014. "Prospects for dedicated energy crop production and attitudes towards agricultural straw use: The case of livestock farmers," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 101-110.
    5. Gérard, Maxence & Jayet, Pierre-Alain, 2023. "European farmers’ response to crop residue prices and implications for bioenergy policies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    6. Yiyun Liu & Rui Zhao & Kuo-Jui Wu & Tao Huang & Anthony S. F. Chiu & Chenyi Cai, 2018. "A Hybrid of Multi-Objective Optimization and System Dynamics Simulation for Straw-to-Electricity Supply Chain Management under the Belt and Road Initiatives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-17, March.
    7. Townsend, T.J. & Sparkes, D.L. & Ramsden, S.J. & Glithero, N.J. & Wilson, P., 2018. "Wheat straw availability for bioenergy in England," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 349-357.
    8. Costantini, Valeria & Crespi, Francesco & Martini, Chiara & Pennacchio, Luca, 2015. "Demand-pull and technology-push public support for eco-innovation: The case of the biofuels sector," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 577-595.
    9. Hammond, Geoffrey P. & Mansell, Ross V.M., 2018. "A comparative thermodynamic evaluation of bioethanol processing from wheat straw," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C), pages 136-146.
    10. Schillo, R. Sandra & Isabelle, Diane A. & Shakiba, Abtin, 2017. "Linking advanced biofuels policies with stakeholder interests: A method building on Quality Function Deployment," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 126-137.
    11. Maxence Gérard & Pierre-Alain Jayet, 2023. "European farmers’ response to crop residue prices and implications for bioenergy policies [Réponse des agriculteurs européens aux prix des résidus de cultures et implications pour les politiques bi," Post-Print hal-04071932, HAL.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Glithero, N. J. & Ramsden, S. J. & Wilson, P., 2013. "Potential for Second Generation Biofuel Feedstock from English Arable Farms," 87th Annual Conference, April 8-10, 2013, Warwick University, Coventry, UK 158858, Agricultural Economics Society.
    2. Adams, P.W.R. & Lindegaard, K., 2016. "A critical appraisal of the effectiveness of UK perennial energy crops policy since 1990," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 188-202.
    3. Helliwell, Richard, 2018. "Where did the marginal land go? Farmers perspectives on marginal land and its implications for adoption of dedicated energy crops," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 166-172.
    4. Glithero, Neryssa J. & Wilson, Paul & Ramsden, Stephen J., 2013. "Prospects for arable farm uptake of Short Rotation Coppice willow and miscanthus in England," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 209-218.
    5. Vyn, Richard J. & Virani, Tasneem & Deen, Bill, 2012. "Examining the economic feasibility of miscanthus in Ontario: An application to the greenhouse industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 669-676.
    6. Zhang, XiaoHong & Pan, HengYu & Cao, Jun & Li, JinRong, 2015. "Energy consumption of China’s crop production system and the related emissions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 111-125.
    7. Tranter, R.B. & Swinbank, A. & Jones, P.J. & Banks, C.J. & Salter, A.M., 2011. "Assessing the potential for the uptake of on-farm anaerobic digestion for energy production in England," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 2424-2430, May.
    8. Bergtold, Jason S. & Shanoyan, Aleksan & Fewell, Jason E. & Williams, Jeffery R., 2017. "Annual bioenergy crops for biofuels production: Farmers' contractual preferences for producing sweet sorghum," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 724-731.
    9. Witzel, Carl-Philipp & Finger, Robert, 2016. "Economic evaluation of Miscanthus production – A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 681-696.
    10. Budzianowski, Wojciech M. & Postawa, Karol, 2016. "Total Chain Integration of sustainable biorefinery systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 1432-1446.
    11. Ge, Jiaqi & Sutherland, Lee-Ann & Polhill, J. Gary & Matthews, Keith & Miller, Dave & Wardell-Johnson, Douglas, 2017. "Exploring factors affecting on-farm renewable energy adoption in Scotland using large-scale microdata," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 548-560.
    12. Tate, Graham & Mbzibain, Aurelian, 2011. "PR - The Future Contribution Of Bioenergy Enterprises To Rural Business Viability In The U.K. (p39-53)," 18th Congress, Methven, New Zealand, 2011 345599, International Farm Management Association.
    13. Whittaker, Carly & Borrion, Aiduan Li & Newnes, Linda & McManus, Marcelle, 2014. "The renewable energy directive and cereal residues," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 207-215.
    14. Charles, Michael B. & Ryan, Rachel & Ryan, Neal & Oloruntoba, Richard, 2007. "Public policy and biofuels: The way forward?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(11), pages 5737-5746, November.
    15. Wilson, P. & Glithero, N.J. & Ramsden, S.J., 2014. "Prospects for dedicated energy crop production and attitudes towards agricultural straw use: The case of livestock farmers," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 101-110.
    16. Tate, Graham & Mbzibain, Aurelian & Ali, Shaukat, 2012. "A comparison of the drivers influencing farmers' adoption of enterprises associated with renewable energy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 400-409.
    17. Murnaghan, Kitty, 2017. "A comprehensive evaluation of the EU's biofuel policy: From biofuels to agrofuels," IPE Working Papers 81/2017, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute for International Political Economy (IPE).
    18. Levidow, Les & Borda-Rodriguez, Alexander & Papaioannou, Theo, 2014. "UK bioenergy innovation priorities: Making expectations credible in state-industry arenas," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 191-204.
    19. Maity, Sunil K., 2015. "Opportunities, recent trends and challenges of integrated biorefinery: Part I," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 1427-1445.
    20. P. Mathiou & Stelios Rozakis & Rafal Pudelko & A. Faber & A. Petsakos, 2014. "Utility maximising supply response: the case of perennial biomass plantations in Poland," Working Papers 2014-3, Agricultural University of Athens, Department Of Agricultural Economics.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:59:y:2013:i:c:p:161-171. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.