F E A T U R E
Growing Crops
for Biofuels Has
Spillover Effects
ISSUE 1
VO L U M E 7
Scott Malcolm
smalcolm@ers.usda.gov
10
Marcel Aillery
A M B E R WAV E S
maillery@ers.usda.gov
Volatile petroleum prices, along with Federal policies aimed
Federal mandates for biofuel production pro- at reducing U.S. dependency on oil imports and mitigating cli-
mote expanded crop acreage and shifts in crop- mate change, have sparked rapid growth in biofuel demand. In
ping patterns and livestock production due to response, production of agricultural commodities that serve as
higher prices for corn and other grain crops. feedstock for biofuels has increased. Federal policy initiatives
and private-sector investment point to continued growth in bio-
An increase in the extent of agricultural land in fuel production and, consequently, increased demand for agricul-
production and intensity of input use increases tural products.
the potential for environmental degradation. The Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007
includes provisions for a Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) to
Research that improves crop productivity and increase the supply of alternative fuel sources by requiring fuel
conversion efficiency, as well as conservation producers to use at least 36 billion gallons of biofuel by 2022.
The RFS provision establishes a level of 15 billion gallons of con-
practices like no-till and buffer strips, could
ventional ethanol by 2015 and at least 21 billion gallons of cellu-
lessen the environmental impacts of biofuels.
losic (noncornstarch) ethanol and advanced biofuels (including
ethanol from sugarcane and biodiesel) by 2022.
The share of total domestic corn production supplying the
An interview with the authors is featured ethanol market grew from 7.5 percent in 2001 to 22.6 percent in
online at: www.ers.usda.gov/amberwaves/
E C O N O M I C R E S E A R C H S E RV I C E / U S DA
F E A T U R E
MARCH 2009
11
A M B E R WAV E S
Corbis
2007. The 2007 USDA Agricultural Baseline, which was produced
before EISA became law (see box, “2007 USDA Baseline Provides 2007 USDA Baseline Provides
Projections Through 2016”), assumed that production of corn- Projections Through 2016
based ethanol will reach 12 billion gallons by 2016, or 3 billion gal-
The 2007 USDA baseline provides long-term projections
lons below the federally mandated target for that year. By 2016,