Biomass crops are a densely planted, high-yielding species with the potential to be processed into biofuel to generate power. But the lack of information about potential yields and marketability has hindered the production of these crops in the past.
Auburn University researchers are hoping to reduce some of the risks and uncertainties of growing biomass crops with a project that focuses on the socioeconomic implications and public policy challenges of bioenergy market development and expansion.
“The emerging cellulosic biofuel and bioproducts industry will require the development of markets where technological and demand uncertainty is high,” said Ruiqing Miao, assistant professor in the Auburn College of Agriculture’s Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology and lead researcher for this project. “Economic and policy challenges need to be overcome for farmers to successfully become viable suppliers of biomass.”
Miao and his team will be supported by a three-year, $499,886 grant from the USDA, expected to help develop the next generation of renewable energy, bioproducts, and biomaterials.
For more information on Miao’s research and hopes for the industry, read more here.
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