Biofuel Crop Sustainability

The principles of sustainable agriculture have been expounded for centuries. The recognition of the need to produce crops in a way that will ensure continued cultivation and reliable food and fuel sources over decades and centuries has never been greater. As the biofuels industry continues to develop, increased scrutiny is being paid to production practices of biomass crops. Biofuel Crop Sustainability serves as a timely collection of the latest research on sustainable strategies and practices in a time of increased demand and competition for arable lands. Biofuel Crop Sustainability is a broad-ranging reference written by leading researchers in the biofuels community. The book opens with chapters that explore sustainability issues around specific families of biomass crops, such as grains, oilseed crops, grasses, and canes. The final chapters look more broadly at issues common to all biofuel crop production. These chapters cover critical topics like nutrient management, maintaining soil quality, and food versus fuel production issues. Providing timely coverage of an increasingly critical issue, Biofuel Crop Sustainability will be an essential volume for crop scientists, biofuels researchers, agroecologists, and others looking at the issue of agricultural sustainability. Contents: 1 Biofuel Crop Sustainability Paradigm 3 B.P. Singh 2 Sustainable Production of Grain Crops for Biofuels 31 A.A. Jaradat 3 Sugarcane as an Energy Crop: Its Role in Biomass Economy 53 R. van Antwerpen, S.D. Berry, T. van Antwerpen, J. Smithers, S. Joshi, and M. van der Laan 4 Sustainable Cellulosic Grass Crop Production 109 J.H. Fike, D.J. Parrish, and W.B. Fike 5 Sustainable Oil Crops Production 165 C. Eynck, D. Shrestha, J. Vollmann, K.C. Falk, W. Friedt, H.P. Singh, and E. Obeng 6 Short-rotation Woody Crop Biomass Production for Bioenergy 205 L.C. Kiser and T.R. Fox 7 Biomass Feedstock Production Impact on Water Resource Availability 239 K.C. Stone, P.G. Hunt, K.B. Cantrell, and K.S. Ro 8 Biofuel Crops and Soil Quality and Erosion 261 D. Chatskikh, A. Ovchinnikova, B. Seshadri, and N. Bolan 9 Nutrient Management in Biofuel Crop Production 301 R. Lemus 10 Food, Farming, and Biofuels 325 J. Popp 11 Biofuel Crops, Ecosystem Services, and Biodiversity 357 A. Fieldsend and H.P. Singh 12 Biofuel Crops and Greenhouse Gases 383 A. Hastings, J. Yeluripati, J. Hillier, and P. Smith 13 Economics of Biomass Feedstocks and Biofuels 407 T.A. Maung, C. Gustafson, B. McCarl, D. Ripplinger, and D. Saxowsky 14 Geospatial Modeling Applications for Biofuel Sustainability Assessment 431 S.S. Panda