The robustness of preferences during a crisis: The case of COVID-19

We investigate how preferences have been affected by exposure to the COVID-19 crisis. Our main contributions are: first, our participant pool consists of a large general population sample; second, we elicited a wide range of preferences (risk, time, ambiguity, and social preferences) using different incentivized experimental tasks; third, we elicited preferences before the onset of the crises and in three additional waves during the crises over a time period of more than a year, allowing us to investigate both short-term and medium-term preference responses; fourth, besides the measurement of causal effects of the crisis, we also analyze within each wave during the crisis, how differential exposure to the crisis in the health and financial domain affects preferences. We find that preferences remain remarkably stable during the crisis. Comparing them before the start and during the crisis, we do not observe robust differences in any of the elicited preferences. Moreover, individual differences in the exposure to the crisis at best show only weak effects in the financial domain

Progress in upscaling Miscanthus biomass production for the European bio-economy with seed-based hybrids

Funded by UK's Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). Grant Number: LK0863 BBSRC strategic programme Grant on Energy Grasses & Bio-refining. Grant Number: BBS/E/W/10963A01 OPTIMISC. Grant Number: FP7-289159 WATBIO. Grant Number: FP7-311929 Innovate UK/BBSRC ‘MUST’. Grant Number: BB/N016149/1Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Breeding progress and preparedness for mass‐scale deployment of perennial lignocellulosic biomass crops switchgrass, miscanthus, willow and poplar

UK: The UK‐led miscanthus research and breeding was mainly supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the BBSRC CSP strategic funding grant BB/CSP1730/1, Innovate UK/BBSRC “MUST” BB/N016149/1, CERES Inc. and Terravesta Ltd. through the GIANT‐LINK project (LK0863). Genomic selection and genomewide association study activities were supported by BBSRC grant BB/K01711X/1, the BBSRC strategic programme grant on Energy Grasses & Bio‐refining BBS/E/W/10963A01. The UK‐led willow R&D work reported here was supported by BBSRC (BBS/E/C/00005199, BBS/E/C/00005201, BB/G016216/1, BB/E006833/1, BB/G00580X/1 and BBS/E/C/000I0410), Defra (NF0424) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) (B/W6/00599/00/00). IT: The Brain Gain Program (Rientro dei cervelli) of the Italian Ministry of Education, University, and Research supports Antoine Harfouche. US: Contributions by Gerald Tuskan to this manuscript were supported by the Center for Bioenergy Innovation, a US Department of Energy Bioenergy Research Center supported by the Office of Biological and Environmental Research in the DOE Office of Science, under contract number DE‐AC05‐00OR22725. Willow breeding efforts at Cornell University have been supported by grants from the US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Contributions by the University of Illinois were supported primarily by the DOE Office of Science; Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER); grant nos. DE‐SC0006634, DE‐SC0012379 and DE‐SC0018420 (Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation); and the Energy Biosciences Institute. EU: We would like to further acknowledge contributions from the EU projects “OPTIMISC” FP7‐289159 on miscanthus and “WATBIO” FP7‐311929 on poplar and miscanthus as well as “GRACE” H2020‐EU.3.2.6. Bio‐based Industries Joint Technology Initiative (BBI‐JTI) Project ID 745012 on miscanthus.Peer reviewedPostprintPublisher PD

Building the Policy Ecosystem in Europe for Cultivation and Use of Perennial Biomass Crops

Perennial biomass crops (PBCs) can potentially contribute to all ten Common Agricultural Policy (2023-27) objectives and up to eleven of the seventeen UN Sustainable Development Goals. This paper discusses interlinked issues that must be considered in the expansion of PBC production: i) available land; ii) yield potential; iii) integration into farming systems; iv) research and development requirements; v) utilisation options; and vi) market systems and the socio-economic environment. The challenge to create development pathways that are acceptable for all actors, relies on measurement, reporting and verification of greenhouse gas emissions reduction in combination with other environmental, economic and social aspects. This paper makes the following policy recommendations to enable greater PBC deployment: 1) incentivise farmers and land managers through specific policy measures, including carbon pricing, to allocate their less productive and less profitable land for uses which deliver demonstrable greenhouse gas reductions; 2) enable greenhouse gas mitigation markets to develop and offer secure contracts for commercial developers of verifiable low carbon bioenergy and bio-products; 3) support innovation in biomass utilisation value chains; and 4) continue long-term, strategic research and development and education for positive environmental, economic and social sustainability impacts. © 2023 ETA-Florence Renewable Energies

The Robustness of Preferences During a Crisis

We investigate how preferences have been affected by exposure to the COVID-19 crisis