MORE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INVOLVEMENT IN SOIL CONSERVATION

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Using Cellulosic Ethanol to ‘Go Green’: What Price for Carbon?

The revised Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2) mandates that cellulosic biofuels be part of the liquid transportation fuel mix and contribute to reducing our carbon footprint. Unfortunately, since no commercial cellulosic biorefinery exists and cellulosic biomass production is typically smaller scale than conventional crop production, limited knowledge exists of the actual costs of producing cellulosic biomass and converting it to cellulosic ethanol. Understanding of the implications of RFS2 requires a better understanding of the economics of producing cellulosic ethanol. We use the Biofuel Breakeven model (BIOBREAK), a simple long run breakeven model that represents the feedstock supply system and biofuel refining process, along with estimates of the potential reduction in carbon emissions from biofuels relative to conventional fuels, to derive the implicit carbon price (or carbon credit) needed to sustain a biomass market and cellulosic ethanol industry. We evaluate BIOBREAK under different oil prices, the RFS2 mandate, and with and without other biofuel incentives.Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Biofuels, Biomass, Cellulosic Ethanol, RFS2, Carbon,

IMMIGRATION, MEAT PACKING, AND TRADE: IMPLICATIONS FOR IOWA

The paper examines changes in employment and wage patterns, industrial restructuring, and foreign competition that affect opportunities of recent immigrants to the non-metropolitan Midwest, especially to Iowa. The focus is on food and kindred products where meat and poultry packing and processing are major components. Although total employment in this industry declined between 1980 and 1990, a significant increase in employment of Hispanic- and Asian- origin persons occurred in Iowa. As unions weakened and the real wage rate declined sharply during 1980-85 in meat and poultry packing and processing, new job opportunities for recent immigrants became available. These jobs provided full-time year-round work at significantly above the minimum wage and made regular schooling for their children and frequently home ownership possible. Note: Tables are not included in the PDF file--contact the authors for more information.

Economics of Cocoa Production

Cocoa production is important to economic growth and the welfare of rural populations. Economic policy is oriented toward encouraging production, maintaining a stable cocoa price, and using cocoa sales as a source of tax revenue and foreign exchange. This chapter will concentrate on the economics of production-related issues at the farm, industry, and government levels. Special emphasis is given to constraints on the decision-making process of the cocoa producer, as well as to the existing knowledge on cocoa production economics. Rather than providing a systematic framework for decisions in cocoa production, we will consider economic insights into specific problems. The former information can be obtained from basic texts on farm management. A summary of the research evidence on specific cocoa production problems is less readily available

Biofuel Incentives and the Energy Title of the 2007 Farm Bill

Given the increased interest in biofuels and other biorenewables, a separate Energy Title is being considered for the 2007 Farm Bill. The added benefits and costs of such government intervention need to be weighed carefully. The United States has conducted an interesting social experiment with ethanol over the last three decades. The federal government and some state governments have provided incentives to increase both corn grain ethanol production and consumption to improve local air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and provide a substitute fuel from renewable resource that could serve to improve energy security. The experiment was successful, but in large part because the price of crude oil increased. Pushing this experiment further will eventually lead the added costs to outweigh the added benefits. Further expansion is typically justified on grounds of moving to biomass-based ethanol, which is purported to have even greater environmental and development benefits. The simple breakeven analyses presented in this paper seriously question the potential of biomass ethanol as a sustainable biofuel source

ENERGY DEMAND AND CAPACITY TO ADJUST IN U.S. AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Genetic Information in Agricultural Productivity and Product Development

A prominent facet of recent changes in agriculture has been the advent of precision breeding techniques. Another has been an increase in the level of information inputs and outputs associated with agricultural production. This paper identifies ways in which these features may complement in expanding the variety of processed products, the level of productivity, and the rate of change in productivity. Using a martingale concept of ﾓmore information,ﾔ we identify conditions under which more information increases the incentives to invest and engage in product differentiation. A theory on how genetic uniformity can enhance the rate of learning through process experimentation, and so the rate of technical change, is also developed.experimentation, genetics, information, martingale, sorting, uniformity, value added.

RURAL GROWTH IN U.S. HEARTLAND

This study identifies factors that explain growth in rural areas using data from 618 counties in the U.S. rural heartland. We evaluate many of the growth hypotheses in the context of sectoral employment growth for counties in Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota. Separate estimates for rural and urban counties provide insight into factors that are important in explaining employment growth. The results support the importance of human capital as a factor contributing to sectoral employment growth and show that increased concentration and specialization of employment within a county lead to slower growth in the rural heartland counties.Community/Rural/Urban Development,