The impact of different energy policy options on feedstock price and land demand for maize silage: the case of biogas in Lombardy

The growing demand of maize silage for biogas production in Northern Italy has triggered an intense debate concerning land rents, maize prices and their possible negative consequences on important agri-food chains. The aim of this work is to quantify the extent to which the rapid spread of biogas raised the maize price at regional level, increasing the demand of land for energy crops. For this purpose we applied a partial-equilibrium framework simulating the agricultural sector and the biogas industry in Lombardy, under two alternative schemes of subsidization policy. Results show that policy measures implemented in 2013 \u2013 reducing the average subsidy per kWh \u2013 may contribute to enforce the complementarity of the sector with agri-food chains, decreasing the competition between energy and non-energy uses. Compared to the old scheme, maize demand for biogas would decrease , lessening the market clearing price (as well as feed opportunity cost for livestock sector) and reducing land demand for energy purposes

The impact of different energy policy options on feedstock price and land demand for maize silage: the case of biogas in Lombardy

The growing demand of green maize for biogas production in Northern Italy has triggered an intense debate concerning land rents, maize prices and their possible negative consequences on important agri-food chains. The aim of this work is to quantify the extent to which the rapid spread of biogas raised the maize price at regional level, increasing the demand of land for energy crops. For this purpose we built a partial-equilibrium model simulating the agricultural sector and the biogas industry in Lombardy, under two alternative subsidization schemes. Results show that policy measures implemented in 2013 \u2013 reducing the average subsidy per kWh \u2013 may contribute to enforce the sustainability of the sector and decreasing its competition with agri-food chains: maize demand for biogas would decrease, compared to the old scheme, lessening the market clearing price and reducing land demand for energy purposes

The Impact of Different Energy Policy Options on Feedstock Price and Land Demand for Maize Silage: The Case of Biogas in Lombardy

The growing demand of green maize for biogas production in Northern Italy has triggered an intense debate concerning land rents, maize prices and their possible negative consequences on important agri-food chains. The aim of this work is to quantify the extent to which the rapid spread of biogas raised the maize price at regional level, increasing the demand of land for energy crops. For this purpose we built a partial-equilibrium model simulating the agricultural sector and the biogas industry in Lombardy, under two alternative subsidization schemes. Results show that policy measures implemented in 2013 – reducing the average subsidy per kWh – may contribute to enforce the sustainability of the sector and decreasing its competition with agri-food chains: maize demand for biogas would decrease, compared to the old scheme, lessening the market clearing price and reducing land demand for energy purposes

PASHAMAMA: an agricultural process-driven agent-based model of the Ecuadorian Amazon

International audienceThis article presents the PASHAMAMA model that aims at studying the situation in the northern part of the Amazonian region of Ecuador in which the intensive oil extraction has induced a high rise of population, pollution, agricultural work and deforestation. It simulates these dynamics impacts on both environment and population by examining exposure and demography over time thanks to a retro-prospective and spatially explicit agent-based approach. Based on a previous work that has introduced roads, immigration and pollution (induced by the oil industry) dynamics, we focus here on the agricultural and the oil salaried work sides of the model. Unlike many models that are highly focused on the use of quantitative data, we choose a process-based approach and rest on qualitative data extracted from interviews with the local population: farmers are not represented by highly cognitive agents, but only attempt to fulfill their local objectives by fulfilling sequentially their constraints (e.g. eating before earning money). We also introduce a new evaluation method based on satellite pictures that compares simulated to “real” data on a thematic division of the environment