Marginal Agricultural Land Low-Input Systems for Biomass Production

Moritz Von Cossel, Iris Lewandowski, Berien Elbersen, Igor Staritsky, Michiel Van Eupen, Yasir Iqbal, Stefan Mantel, Danilo Scordia, Giorgio Testa, Salvatore Luciano Cosentino, Oksana Maliarenko, Ioannis Eleftheriadis, Federica Zanetti, Andrea Monti, Dagnija Lazdina, Santa Neimane, Isabelle Lamy, Lisa Ciadamidaro, Marina Sanz, Juan Esteban Carrasco, Pilar Ciria, Ian McCallum, Luisa M. Trindade, Eibertus N. Van Loo, Wolter Elbersen, Ana Luisa Fernando, Eleni G. Papazoglou and Efthymia Alexopoulou
Additional contact information
Moritz Von Cossel: Biobased Products and Energy Crops, Institute of Crop Science, University of Hohenheim, Fruwirthstr. 23, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany
Iris Lewandowski: Biobased Products and Energy Crops, Institute of Crop Science, University of Hohenheim, Fruwirthstr. 23, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany
Berien Elbersen: Team Earth Informatics, Wageningen Environmental Research, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
Igor Staritsky: Team Earth Informatics, Wageningen Environmental Research, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
Michiel Van Eupen: Team Earth Informatics, Wageningen Environmental Research, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
Yasir Iqbal: College of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, Hunan, China
Stefan Mantel: International Soil Reference and Information Centre, P.O. Box 353, 6700 AJ Wageningen, The Netherlands
Danilo Scordia: Alimentazione e Ambiente, Di3A—Dipartimento di Agricoltura, University of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy
Giorgio Testa: Alimentazione e Ambiente, Di3A—Dipartimento di Agricoltura, University of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy
Salvatore Luciano Cosentino: Alimentazione e Ambiente, Di3A—Dipartimento di Agricoltura, University of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy
Oksana Maliarenko: Institute of Bioenergy Crops and Sugar Beet NAAS, 03141 Kyiv, Ukraine
Ioannis Eleftheriadis: Center for Renewable Energy Sources, Biomass Department, 19009 Pikermi Attikis, Greece
Federica Zanetti: Dept. of Agricultural and Food Sciences (DISTAL), Alma Mater Studiorum—University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
Andrea Monti: Dept. of Agricultural and Food Sciences (DISTAL), Alma Mater Studiorum—University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
Dagnija Lazdina: Latvian State Forest Research Institute SILAVA, 2169 Salaspils, Latvia
Santa Neimane: Latvian State Forest Research Institute SILAVA, 2169 Salaspils, Latvia
Isabelle Lamy: Environment and Agronomy Division, French National Institute for Agricultural Research, 78850 Thiverval-Grignon, France
Lisa Ciadamidaro: Environment and Agronomy Division, French National Institute for Agricultural Research, 78850 Thiverval-Grignon, France
Marina Sanz: Centro de Investigaciones Energeticas, Medioambientales y Tecnologicas-CIEMAT, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Juan Esteban Carrasco: Centro de Investigaciones Energeticas, Medioambientales y Tecnologicas-CIEMAT, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Pilar Ciria: Centro de Investigaciones Energeticas, Medioambientales y Tecnologicas-CIEMAT, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Ian McCallum: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria
Luisa M. Trindade: Laboratory of Plant Breeding, Wageningen University & Research, P.O. Box 9101, 6700 HB Wageningen, The Netherlands
Eibertus N. Van Loo: Wageningen Plant Research, Plant Breeding, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands
Wolter Elbersen: Wageningen Food & Biobased Research, Wageningen University and Research Centre, P.O. Box 17, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
Ana Luisa Fernando: Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal
Eleni G. Papazoglou: Department of Crop Science, Agricultural University of Athens, 118 55 Athens, Greece
Efthymia Alexopoulou: Center for Renewable Energy Sources, Biomass Department, 19009 Pikermi Attikis, Greece

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 16, 1-25

Abstract: This study deals with approaches for a social-ecological friendly European bioeconomy based on biomass from industrial crops cultivated on marginal agricultural land. The selected crops to be investigated are: Biomass sorghum, camelina, cardoon, castor, crambe, Ethiopian mustard, giant reed, hemp, lupin, miscanthus, pennycress, poplar, reed canary grass, safflower, Siberian elm, switchgrass, tall wheatgrass, wild sugarcane, and willow. The research question focused on the overall crop growth suitability under low-input management. The study assessed: (i) How the growth suitability of industrial crops can be defined under the given natural constraints of European marginal agricultural lands; and (ii) which agricultural practices are required for marginal agricultural land low-input systems (MALLIS). For the growth-suitability analysis, available thresholds and growth requirements of the selected industrial crops were defined. The marginal agricultural land was categorized according to the agro-ecological zone (AEZ) concept in combination with the marginality constraints, so-called ‘marginal agro-ecological zones’ (M-AEZ). It was found that both large marginal agricultural areas and numerous agricultural practices are available for industrial crop cultivation on European marginal agricultural lands. These results help to further describe the suitability of industrial crops for the development of social-ecologically friendly MALLIS in Europe.

Keywords: bioeconomy; bio-based industry; biomass; bioenergy; industrial crop; perennial crop; low-input agriculture; marginal land; MALLIS; sustainable agriculture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (23)

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