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Reports

Economic and Agricultural Impacts of Ethanol and Biodiesel Expansion

Economic and Agricultural Impacts of Ethanol and Biodiesel Expansion
Daniel De La Torre Ugarte, Burton English, Kim Jensen, Chad Hellwinckel, Jamey Menard, and Brad Wilson*
University of Tennessee

Agriculture is uniquely positioned among the current renewable energy sources to be a source of energy feedstock that can contribute to the production of both power (electricity) and transportation fuels (ethanol and biodiesel). It is also well positioned to be a good fit to utilize the current infrastructure of distribution and energy utilization, in both electricity generation and transportation engines. Furthermore, when referring to agricultural feedstock for energy, there is a diverse set of feedstock like traditional starch and sugar crops, crop residues, dedicated energy crops, animal waste, forest residues, mill wastes, and food residues. This diversity of feedstock resources enables specific regions of the country to contribute with their unique set of resources. Use of bioenergy feedstocks could not only help reduce reliance on foreign oil, but could also provide significant environmental benefits and help invigorate rural economies. The purpose of this study is to project the impacts of expanded levels of ethanol and biodiesel production on U.S. agriculture and the economy. Impacts of meeting production targets of 60 billion gallons for ethanol and of 1.6 billion gallons for biodiesel by 2030 are projected.

Economic and Agricultural Impacts of Ethanol and Biodiesel Expansion | (3.3 MB)