Overview/Theory
We sought to inform the development of the 2G crop portfolio by assessing the profitability of alternative biomass cropping systems that mitigate negative effects of grain crops on environmental quality. We also sought to compare these systems to corn production under the same conditions, as the relative performance of alternative crops compared to the corn baseline constrains their implementation.
Approach
To this end, we analyzed farm-gate costs and returns of five 2G systems associated with an ongoing experiment in central Iowa, USA. The five 2G systems include (1) continuous corn, in which agricultural residue in the form of stover serves as a 2G feedstock, (2) soybean-triticale/soybean-corn (hereafter, “modified rotation”), which supplements the conventional corn-soybean rotation with triticale as a winter cover and 2G crop, (3) corn-switchgrass, a mixed cropping system using corn as a harvestable nurse crop as the 2G switchgrass establishes, (4) triticale/sorghum, a double cropping system in which triticale serves as a winter cover and 2G crop followed by a 2G sorghum crop, and (5) triticale/aspen, a mixed cropping system in which triticale is planted between rows of trees and serves as a cover and 2G crop in the first three years that the high-yielding 2G woody crop is establishing. Because of differences among systems in the length of the production cycle, our economic analysis is based on long-term enterprise budgets. To inform farm-level financial planning and the development of a more diversified bioenergy industry, we also present breakeven prices at fixed yields and breakeven yields at fixed prices.