Researchers at the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI) found that transitioning land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) to bioenergy agriculture can be advantageous for American landowners, the government, and the environment.
Researchers at the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI) found that transitioning land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) to bioenergy agriculture can be advantageous for American landowners, the government, and the environment.
Land enrolled in the CRP cannot currently be used for bioenergy crop production, wherein high-yielding plants (like miscanthus and switchgrass) are harvested for conversion into marketable bioproducts that displace fossil fuel- and coal-based energy. Established by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1985, the CRP incentivizes landowners to retire environmentally degraded cropland, exchanging agricultural productivity for native habitats and accepting annual government payments in return.
As the world warms and its population explosively expands, global demand for food production is at odds with the decreased agricultural productivity threatened by extreme climate conditions. Therefore, allocating CRP land for high-yielding energy biomass might eliminate the need for bioenergy crops and food crops to vie for space.
Read more at: CABBI Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation
Luoye Chen (pictured) is a Ph.D. student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in CABBI Sustainability Theme Leader Madhu Khanna's lab group. Alongside the research team, Chen worked to develop an integrated modeling approach for assessing the economic and environmental feasibility of transitioning land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) to bioenergy agriculture. This swap, while economically advantageous for landowners and the government, also promises significant fossil fuel mitigation in the long term. (Photo Credit: CABBI communications staff)
