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Hydrologic And Water Quality Impacts From Perennial Crop Production On Marginal Lands, Qingyu Feng

Open Access Dissertations

Marginal lands are proposed as a viable option for producing biofeedstocks as these lands are not heavily engaged in agricultural production or may not be suitable for intensive row-crop food/feed production. However, meeting biofeedstock production goals will require large amount of marginal lands and the unintended consequences of producing biofeedstocks on marginal lands are not fully clear. The overall goal of this study was to evaluate the productivity of biofeedstocks on marginal lands and the potential impacts on hydrologic and water quality processes from the land use conversion.

This study was conducted in the Upper Mississippi River Basin (UMRB). First, …

Swat Model Simulation Of Bioenergy Crop Impacts In A Tile-Drained Watershed, Chelsie Marie Werling Boles

Open Access Theses

Tile drains are an important component of agricultural production in the Midwest, and their inclusion in modeling studies is important in watersheds where they are a principal hydrologic pathway. The new tile drainage simulation method in the Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was parameterized and tile flow results were compared with reviewed literature. Streamflow, sediment, and nutrient outputs were compared to measured values and simulated crop yields were examined with respect to average county yields. Plant growth stressors were examined to account for differences between simulated and published yields. The bioenergy crop switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) was applied over …

An Analysis Of Government Policy Impacts In The Ethanol And Sugar Markets, Hassan Marzoughi_Ardakani

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT This study determines the impact of U.S. government policies on U.S. ethanol market and its consequences for the U.S. corn, sugar, and HFCS markets. Using corn as the primary input in ethanol and HFCS production in the United States, along with the substitutability between sugar and HFCS, has linked the U.S. ethanol market to the U.S. HFCS, sugar, and corn markets. To address the problem, two sets of data, quarterly and annual data, were collected and a simultaneous econometric model was constructed. Estimated results show that the “2007 Energy Independence and Security Act” will increase the domestic corn price …