Farmer Interest in and Willingness to Grow Pennycress as an Energy Feedstock
Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
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Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editors: Mariusz J. Stolarski and Byong-Hun Jeon
Energies 2021, 14(8), 2066; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14082066
Received: 25 February 2021
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Revised: 23 March 2021
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Accepted: 7 April 2021
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Published: 8 April 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioenergy Supply and Demand, Logistics, and New Feedstock Crop Assessment)
Pennycress can be used as a renewable biomass because its harvested seeds can be converted into biofuel, supplying, for example the aviation industry. Pennycress can be adopted as a winter cover crop to make extra profit in addition to summer cash crops. This study ascertains influences on row crop farmers’ interest in growing pennycress to supply a biofuels industry. The study uses data from a survey of row-crop farmers in seven US states. Effects of farm and farmer attributes on acceptance of a farmgate pennycress price are measured. Nearly 58% were interested in growing pennycress if profitable. Among those interested, 54.4% would accept the farmgate pennycress price offered. Positive influences on interest included farm size, education, and familiarity with pennycress, while concern about knowledge on growing pennycress, and use of no-till practices had negative influences. Farmers aged 40 to 65 were more likely to accept the price, while share of rented hectares and no debt had positive influences. More risk-averse farmers and those using no-till were less likely to accept. Results suggest that the majority of row crop farmers would be interested in growing pennycress if profitable, while the overall willingness to accept the farmgate price was when it was at $0.28/kg.
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Keywords:
interest; willingness to grow; pennycress; oilseed cover crops
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MDPI and ACS Style
Zhou, X.V.; Jensen, K.L.; Larson, J.A.; English, B.C. Farmer Interest in and Willingness to Grow Pennycress as an Energy Feedstock. Energies 2021, 14, 2066. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14082066
AMA Style
Zhou XV, Jensen KL, Larson JA, English BC. Farmer Interest in and Willingness to Grow Pennycress as an Energy Feedstock. Energies. 2021; 14(8):2066. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14082066
Chicago/Turabian StyleZhou, Xia V., Kimberly L. Jensen, James A. Larson, and Burton C. English. 2021. "Farmer Interest in and Willingness to Grow Pennycress as an Energy Feedstock" Energies 14, no. 8: 2066. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14082066
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