AN ENERGY STRATEGY BASED ON ENERGY DEDICATED CROPS OR CORN: DIFFERENTIAL ECONOMIC AND REGIONAL IMPACTS

The growth of the role of agriculture as a source of energy feedstock has been primarily concentrated on increasing corn use for ethanol. Alternatively, refocusing this growth in the utilization of dedicated energy crops could prove more advantageous as producers of more crops in a wider geographic area could benefit.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Sixty Billion Gallons by 2030: Economic and Agricultural Impacts of Ethanol and Biodiesel Expansion

Agriculture is well positioned as a feedstock source because the fuels can be utilized with current engine technologies and are compatible with the current distribution infrastructure. Commercialization of cellulosic to ethanol technology will enable fuels to be derived from a diverse portfolio of feedstocks from numerous regions of the country. The levels of ethanol production analyzed are 10, 30, and 60 billion gallons of ethanol annually by 2010, 2020 and 2030, respectively. Impacts of producing 1 billion gallons of biodiesel production by 2012 and 1.6 billion gallons by 2030 are also projected. Overall, for the period 2007 to 2030, the estimated accumulated gains in net farm income are over $210 billion; and the accumulated potential savings in government payments are estimated to be$150 billion. Due to the geographic decentralization of the production of feedstock, economic gains are projected to accrue to the majority of regions of the country. Significant expansion beyond 60 billion gallons per year would likely require expansion of the region suitable for the production of bioenergy crops, ability to convert other pastureland (beyond cropland in pasture) into energy crops; allowing CRP acreage to be used in feedstock production, increasing short-rotation wood crops in the Northeast and Northwest regions, increased yields above those assumed in the analysis, and/or increasing the efficiency of cellulosic conversion. Further research should examine the agricultural, environmental, and economic impacts of one or more these factors changing.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

SOCIAL WELFARE AND ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION IN AGRICULTURE: THE CASE OF ECUADOR

A non-linear optimization model which maximizes total Ecuadorian social welfare, defined as the sum of consumers' and producers' surpluses for the four major crops (corn, bananas, rice and African palm) is developed to evaluate the tradeoff between welfare and environmental degradation in Ecuador. It was found that a total welfare loss of US$122 million (a 11 percent reduction - from US$ 1.112 billion to US$ 989.66 million) would be expected from a 30 percent reduction in the total pesticide load on the environment in the production of the four major crops. The distributional impacts of the welfare loss were found, however, to be significantly skewed toward the loss of consumers' surplus. Specifically, a 30 percent reduction of total pesticide load on the environment would result in a reduction of 3.86 percent of producers' total surplus while consumers would be expected to loose 19.46 percent of their total surplus.welfare tradeoff, environmental impacts, non-linear optimization, Environmental Economics and Policy,

POTENTIAL FARM-LEVEL IMPACTS OF PROPOSED FQPA IMPLEMENTATION: THE TENNESSEE CASE

This research estimates farm-level impacts of a potential ban on organophosphates and carbamates under the FQPA. Insecticide expenditure and first- and fifth-year yield impacts are estimated for five Tennessee representative farms. Results indicate that within five years, the ban could reduce net farm income on Tennessee farms by 16 to 46 percent.FQPA, organophosphates, carbamates, insecticides, farm-level analysis, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy,

ESTIMATING PRICE VARIABILITY IN AGRICULTURE: IMPLICATIONS FOR DECISION MAKERS

Using a stochastic version of the POLYSYS modeling framework, an examination of projected variability in agricultural prices, supply, demand, stocks, and incomes is conducted for corn, wheat, soybeans, and cotton during the 1998-2006 period. Increased planting flexibility introduced in the 1996 farm bill results in projections of significantly higher planted acreage variability compared to recent historical levels. Variability of ending stocks and stock-to-use ratios is projected to be higher for corn and soybeans and lower for wheat and cotton compared to the 1986-96 period. Significantly higher variability is projected for corn prices, with wheat and soybean prices also being more variable. No significant change in cotton price variability is projected.POLYSYS model, Price variability, Stochastic simulation, Crop Production/Industries,

The remoteness rule as a distinctive element of liability for breach of contract in Peruvian Law

The remoteness rule constitutes a limit on quantum respondeatur that has not been well understood by national doctrine, which –from a unifying approach to different systems of civil liability– has come to question its usefulness and coherence with the full compensation principle. In this paper, this approach is debated and, based on a review of Comparative Law, a renewing conception of the rule is proposed that allows it to be understood as the distinctive element of liability for breach of contract and the fundamental criteria of objective attribution of damage in the Peruvian contract Law.La regla de la previsibilidad de los daños al tiempo de contratar constituye un límite del quantum respondeatur que no ha sido bien comprendido por la doctrina nacional, la cual –desde una aproximación unificadora a la responsabilidad civil– ha llegado a cuestionar su utilidad y su coherencia con el principio de reparación integral. En este trabajo se cuestiona dicha aproximación y se plantea, a partir de una revisión de Derecho comparado, una concepción renovadora de la regla que permita entenderla como el elemento distintivo de la responsabilidad por incumplimiento contractual en el Derecho peruano y como el criterio por excelencia de “imputación objetiva” de los daños en dicha sede

SUPPLY RESPONSE UNDER THE 1996 FARM ACT AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE U.S. FIELD CROPS SECTOR

The 1996 Farm Act gives farmers almost complete planting flexibility, allowing producers to respond to price changes to a greater extent than they had under previous legislation. This study measures supply responsiveness for major field crops to changes in their own prices and in prices for competing crops and indicates significant increases in responsiveness. Relative to 1986-90, the percentage increases in the responsiveness of U.S. plantings of major field crops to a 1-percent change in their own prices are wheat (1.2 percent), corn (41.6 percent), soybeans (13.5 percent), and cotton (7.9 percent). In percentage terms, the increases in the responsiveness generally become greater with respect to competing crops' price changes. The 1996 legislation has the least effect on U.S. wheat acreage, whereas the law may lead to an average increase of 2 million acres during 1996-2005 in soybean acreage, a decline of 1-2 million acres in corn acreage, and an increase of 0.7 million acres in cotton acreage. Overall, the effect of the farm legislation on regional production patterns of major field crops appears to be modest. Corn acreage expansion in the Central and Northern Plains, a long-term trend in this important wheat production region, will slow under the 1996 legislation, while soybean acreage expansion in this region will accelerate. The authors used the Policy Analysis System-Economic Research Service (POLYSYS-ERS) model that was jointly developed by USDA's Economic Research Service and the University of Tennessee's Agricultural Policy Analysis Center to estimate the effects of the 1996 legislation.Supply response, major field crops, acreage price elasticities, normal flex acreage (NFA), 1996 farm legislation., Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries,

A Farm-Level Evaluation of Conditions Under Which Farmers Will Supply Biomass Feedstocks for Energy Production

This study evaluated the risk management potential of including biomass crops as a diversification strategy for a grain farm in northwest Tennessee. Results indicate that adding biomass crops to the farm enterprise mix could improve mean net revenues and reduced net revenue variability.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Evidence of spontaneous spin polarized transport in magnetic nanowires

The exploitation of the spin in charge-based systems is opening revolutionary opportunities for device architecture. Surprisingly, room temperature electrical transport through magnetic nanowires is still an unresolved issue. Here, we show that ferromagnetic (Co) suspended atom chains spontaneously display an electron transport of half a conductance quantum, as expected for a fully polarized conduction channel. Similar behavior has been observed for Pd (a quasi-magnetic 4d metal) and Pt (a non-magnetic 5d metal). These results suggest that the nanowire low dimensionality reinforces or induces magnetic behavior, lifting off spin degeneracy even at room temperature and zero external magnetic field.Comment: 4 pages, 3 eps fig