Title
Corn stover as a biofuel feedstock in Iowa: an analysis of farmer interest, concerns and price
Degree Type
Thesis
Date of Award
2008
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Natural Resource Ecology and Management
First Advisor
Joe Colletti
Abstract
There has been much discussion recently about corn stover as a cellulosic biorefinery feedstock. The popular and scientific press in recent years has published many articles about corn stover and other potential lignocellulosic crops or crop residues being used as a biomass feedstock for next generation biorefineries. In this thesis, the researcher has worked for two parts. The first part examines the interests and concerns of supplying corn stover from the Iowa farmer's perspective through an application of an ordinal probit model. The second examines the minimum willingness to accept (WTA) a price for corn stover sold in the future into a biomass feedstock market. The results of the analysis suggest that farmer interest in supplying stover and WTA are somewhat limited and mostly influenced by concern about environment, the farmer and farm characteristics, and some marketing concerns. This thesis should be helpful to policy makers, biofuel manufacturers and producers to better understand and predict the supply of corn stover biomass and future price for use in biorefineries designed to use cellulosic biomass.
Key words: corn stover, biofuel, WTA, farmer interest, supply.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.31274/etd-180810-2998
Copyright Owner
Weiting Lu
Copyright Date
2008
Language
en
Date Available
2012-04-30
File Format
application/pdf
File Size
54 pages
Recommended Citation
Lu, Weiting, "Corn stover as a biofuel feedstock in Iowa: an analysis of farmer interest, concerns and price" (2008). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 10948.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/10948
