Efforts to assess and improve the sustainability performance of the growing organic farming sector depend on an accurate understanding of farm structure and management practices. To contribute to the dearth of literature in this area, we conducted a survey of over 850 certified organic corn growers in four states (Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania) in the spring of 2018. Findings show that most organic corn growers in this region had diversified livestock operations (mostly dairy) on relatively small farms (10–100 ha), which contrasts with trends of specialization and growth in farm size. More than half were dairy farmers, and nearly two-thirds farmed with horses (likely Amish). Soil fertility and health were managed by the use of manure, cover crops, forages, and a variety of other soil amendments. Organic corn growers relied heavily on moldboard plow tillage. All producers had positive net returns to labor and management in 2017, though net returns varied widely across operations. The results have implications for assessing the sustainability of organic farming systems, and for designing scientific research and extension/outreach programs to ensure they address the needs of the diverse organic farming population in this region.

The scientific community and most mainstream agriculturalists typically design fertilizer recommendations to provide a ‘sufficient level of available nutrients’ to meet the annual N, P and K requirements of common field crops. Soil balancing is another approach to managing soil fertility that focuses on the levels of Ca, Mg and K to achieve a desired base cation saturation ratio (BCSR). Soil balancing is believed to be practiced frequently by organic and other alternative farmers but is viewed skeptically by conventional agricultural scientists due to a lack of support for the idea in the published scientific literature. This study represents a pioneering effort to collect systematic data on the extent of soil balancing, how it is practiced and the types of outcomes reported by organic farmers. Our survey of over 850 farmers who grow certified organic corn in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania found that over half report using a soil-balancing approach based on BCSR. Their practice of soil balancing frequently includes more than management of base cations, but also uses a wide range of soil amendment products (such as purchased organic NPK fertilizers, micronutrients, microbial stimulants and soil inoculants) other than those applied specifically for cation balance. Farms that rely on vegetable and dairy production for most of their income, and Amish farmers who rely on horses for fieldwork, were more likely to report using a soil-balancing program. Self-described soil balancers perceived positive agronomic outcomes from the use of a BCSR program, including improvements in soil physical and biological properties and improved crop health and quality. Although farmers in our study report extensive use and positive perceived outcomes from soil-balancing methods, the scientific research literature has been unable to reproduce evidence that manipulating soil base cation levels has any systematic effect on crop yield. Future research could consider the interacting effects of BCSR with other field management practices to more closely approximate the actual practices of farmers.

Biorefineries are keen to design optimal biomass supply chains to minimize production, harvest, transport, and other costs. Such a design problem is challenging with the availability of multiple feedstocks (agricultural residues, perennials such as energy crops, short rotation woody crops), sourced from multiple harvest sheds, and transported across multiple modes (trucks, rails, and barges). This paper presents a multi-period optimization model to analyze the feasibility of collection from multiple harvest sheds. The results are demonstrated for a case study location in Alpena, MI served by truck and water transport. The model results suggest that: i) perennial biomass with higher yields would be preferred due to higher biomass production per unit area; ii) transport from farther locations are warranted only if the biomass production costs in the farther harvest sheds are cheaper by 20% - 30% compared to the adjacent harvest shed; and iii) the local situations of a biorefinery—characterized by the parametric inputs in the model—play a key role in determining the optimal feedstock composition across multiple harvest sheds. The results also support long term contracts associated with high yielding perennial feedstocks such as energy crops and short rotation woody crops.

This paper evaluates the optimal composition of annual and perennial biomass feedstocks for a biorefinery. A generic optimization model is built to minimize costs – harvest, transport, storage, seasonal, and environmental costs – subject to various constraints on land availability, feedstock availability, processing capacity, contract terms, and storage losses. The model results are demonstrated through a case study for a midwestern U.S. location, focusing on bioethanol as the likely product. The results suggest that high-yielding energy crops feature prominently (70 to 80%) in the feedstock mix in spite of the higher establishment costs. The cost of biomass ranges from 0.16 to 0.20 $ l-1 (US$ 0.60 to $0.75 per gallon) of biofuel. The harvest shed shows that high-yielding energy crops are preferably grown in fields closer to the biorefinery. Low-yielding agricultural residues primarily serve as a buffer crop to meet the shortfall in biomass requirement. For the case study parameters, the model results estimated a price premium for energy crops (2 to 4 $ t-1 within a 16 km (10-mile) radius) and agricultural residues (5 to 17 $ t-1 in a 16 to 20 km (10 to 20 mile) radius.

Oil seeds and edible oils are the essential commodities in Indian trade. Among the edible oils, soybean oil is highly recommended for reducing the level of bad cholesterol in the blood. Though it is used in large quantities in other parts of India, its usage in South India is quite limited. The analysis of growth rate of total oil seeds area in India showed a positive growth of 0.75%, and the production statistics revealed a growth rate of 2.98% per annum . This indicated that there is a need to promote oil seed crops. To promote this protein-rich oil, a study was undertaken in Coimbatore city of Tamil Nadu. The study aimed at analyzing the production and growth of oil seeds in India in general, and Tamil Nadu in particular, and to ascertain the factors influencing the consumers' buying behavior of blended soybean oil by using the logit model. The study revealed that in Coimbatore, soybean oil is sold as blended soybean oil (mixed with other vegetable oils). The major factors which influenced the consumers to purchase soybean oil were age, education, and occupation of the decision maker (regarding the oil to be used for cooking) and health conditions of the entire family.

This paper proposes a Hegelian dialectic method as a teaching strategy to not only teach pluralism but also to compare and contrast it with the neoclassical economics. The Hegelian dialectic derives meaningful theories (or viewpoints) from opposing ideas and concepts, summarised by the triad ‘thesis-antithesis-synthesis’. Students can also learn how opposing viewpoints culminate in a consensus view among economists (termed as synthesis in Hegelian dialectic). This paper provides several techniques to adopt the dialectic in economic pedagogy including: how economic theories evolve; the historical perspective or the current context of an economic theory; which economic theories have become obsolete; what factors nullify an economic theory, and how can we interpret the links across multiple economic viewpoints as similarities or contradictions. This paper also provides suggested assignments for using the Hegelian dialectic framework within a pluralist framework.

The Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) 2007 mandate the use of 21 billion gallons of advanced biofuels including 16 billion gallons of cellulosic biofuels by the year 2022. While much previous advanced biofuel related research has focused on cellulosic ethanol, advanced drop-in-biofuels such as biobutanol and renewable diesel are gaining significant attention because of their attractive combustion properties, compatibility with existing vehicle fleet, fuel distribution, and retailing infrastructure. While corn ethanol production has increased fast enough to keep up with the mandates, production of cellulosic and advanced biofuels has been well below the targets despite significant government support. A number of pilot and demonstration scale advanced biofuel facilities have been set up, but commercial scale facilities are yet to become operational. Scaling up this new biofuel sector poses significant economic and logistical challenges for regional planners and biofuel entrepreneurs in terms of feedstock supply assurance, supply chain development, bioefinery establishment, and setting up transport, storage and distribution infrastructure. Economies of scale in processing mean that, future cellulosic biorefineries are expected to be large-scale facilities using multiple sources of feedstocks. Assuring a reliable supply of feedstock in adequate quantity and appropriate quality at reasonable cost and low environmental impacts is a key factor driving emergence of a sustainable bioenergy sector. Assuming that a biorefinery is set up in a region that has more than adequate biomass potential, biorefinery managers then face the problem of contracting with producers for the actual supply quantities of feedstock over the expected operational life time of the biorefinery. These supply contracts specify the quantities of different feedstocks (e.g. agricultural crops, perennial grasses, woody biomass), the timing of the deliveries, and the geographical location of production. In other words, through these supply contracts, the biorefinery managers essentially have an opportunity to design the biomass harvest-shed both temporally and spatially. Considerations in determining the optimal mix of these supply contracts include: (i) lowering procurement costs (harvest, baling, transport, storage, and seasonal costs), (ii) maximizing fuel yields and minimizing conversion costs, (iii) reducing in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to qualify as a cellulosic biofuel under the federal renewable fuels standard or similar regulations, and possibly for tradable GHG credits, and (iv) meeting contracting constraints to assure supply, for example while annual crop producers may be willing to supply under annual contracts, perennial grass producers may demand longer term contracts with varying quantities matching the temporal yield patterns. In addition to the above criteria used by biorefinery managers, regional planners may impose additional constraints related to protection of ecosystem services, habitat protection, water resources, traffic patterns, and congestion. In this article, we develop a multi-period optimization model aimed determining the optimal mix of woody biomass, annual crops and perennial grasses for a biorefinery, taking into account the necessary contract terms, feedstock costs, transport costs, GHG emissions and other environmental impacts, production capacity constraints etc. The decision variables of the optimization model are the acreages of various feedstocks (woody biomass, 3 annual crops and perennial grasses) that are contracted for harvesting during each month of a 25 year planning horizon. While the model is structured to be applicable to a generic biorefinery regardless of location, we parameterize the model using information for a hypothetical biorefinery located in the Midwest, producing biobutanol. Two versions of the model are developed, one optimizing the private costs faced by the biorefinery manager, and a second version taking the perspective of a regional planner with additional optimization criteria and social constraints. Mathematical programming software GAMS and solver program MINOS are used to code and solve the formulated optimization programs. A growing body of literature has previously addressed issues surrounding the supply of biomass feedstock for biofuel production (e.g. Epplin et al., 2007; Mapemba et al., 2007; Mapemba et al., 2008; Sokhansanj et al., 2009; Khanna et al., 2010; Kang et al., 2010). While drawing on previous research, the models developed in this article have several novel features. (i) Existing studies treat the available biomass quantities in the region as exogenously given and then try to minimize procurement costs. In comparison, this model treats biomass acreage to be harvested as an endogenous decision variable subject to overall biomass availability constraints. (ii) Unlike most existing studies, in this model transport costs are endogenously determined as a function of harvesting decisions. (iii) The temporal yield patterns of energy crops are modeled explicitly unlike many other studies which use steady state average yields. (iv) GHG emissions are also endogenously determined based on feedstock sourcing decisions. (v) The legal, institutional, and ecosystem sustainability constraints that are necessary from a regional planning perspective are also incorporated. (vi) While almost all previous studies model cellulosic ethanol biorefineries, this model is specifically aimed at biobutanol biorefineries. As a result, these models provide better insights into the realities of biomass procurement, especially for the emerging drop-in advanced biofuel production.

Replacing petroleum fuels with biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel has been shown to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These GHG benefits can potentially be traded in the fledgling carbon markets, and methodologies for quantifying and trading are still being developed. We review the main challenges in developing such carbon trading frameworks and outline a proposed framework for the US, the main features of which include, lifecycle assessment of GHG benefits, a combination of project-specific and standard performance measures, and assigning GHG property rights to biofuel producers. At carbon prices of 10 $ t (1) estimated monetary benefits from such trading can be 4.5 M$ hm (3) and 17 M$ hm (3) of corn ethanol and cellulosic ethanol respectively. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

This teaching module shows how U.S. antitrust laws are affected by 'intentional' and 'evolutionary' visions of socio-economic market processes.The extent of government's role is studied to review whether the U.S. antitrust laws should be strengthened, reformed or repealed.The focus of Chicago (and Austrian) school is discussed: 'antitrust laws should promote and enhance the trio of --consumer welfare, competition process, and dynamic (productive and allocative) efficiency.'The role of U.S. antitrust laws in a globalized world and the need for universal law are mentioned.The economic reasons used to rule in U.S. antitrust enforcement since the 1890s are provided in a tabular format for easy use in the classrooms.Teaching tips are provided on how to use the material in classroom discussion and assessments.

Crude oil price speculation during 2000s could have increased installed capacity in corn ethanol plants beyond what was warranted by the market factors. We use Muth’s commodity pricing model and Flood and Garber’s tests to test for speculative investment in US corn ethanol industry. The ethanol price expectations are derived using a system of supply-demand-inventory describing US ethanol markets under rational expectations (perfect foresight). These price expectations can help differentiate the installed capacity into two: capacity supported by the market fundamentals and the probable capacity that is installed based on speculation. Econometric estimation procedures and functional form approximations are discussed.

Title: Historical perspective and role of entrepreneurship in Austrian economics Author: Subbu Kumarappan Dept of Ag Food Res Economics Michigan State University Bibliographic information: A review essay of Jesus Huerto De Soto’s book The Austrian School: Market Order and Entrepreneurial Creativity . Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2008. x. 129pp. ISBN 978-1847207685. $95.00 hardcover Forthcoming: Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology Volume A, January 2010

The potential supply of biomass feedstocks in the US and Canada is estimated using a static supply function approach. Estimated total biomass available at a price of $100 per metric ton is 568 million metric tons in the US and 123 million tons in Canada, which together can displace 23-45 billion gallons of gasoline. Sufficient biomass, mainly agricultural and mill residues, will be available at prices of around $50/ton to meet the advanced biofuel mandates of the US Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. The estimates of agricultural residue supply are very sensitive to the assumed fraction of residues that can be sustainably removed from the field, and the potential of municipal solid waste as a feedstock depends on which components can be economically converted into liquid biofuels.