A decision model for economic and environmental impacts of the food and biofuel competition

Abstract

Rising demand for food and energy leads to debates about biofuel production from food crops. On the other hand, biofuels derived from lignocellulosic sources offer positive environmental impacts such as enriching degraded soils through carbon sequestration and prevention of soil erosion. In this study, we develop a mixed integer optimization model in order to investigate the economic and environmental tradeoffs between biofuel and food production. This model maximizes the total profit of farmers while satisfying sustainable food supply. The model provides optimal decisions regarding allocation of lands to food and energy crops, seeding time, harvesting time and amount, and budget allocations to farm operations. We have applied the model in the Kansas State by considering the production of corn and switchgrass.