PR - Farming In Eastern Germany: From Food To Energy Crop Production?

Renewable resources are of importance in our modern society due to their positive effects on agriculture, the environment and the economy. To support renewable energy from biomass the EU promotes the cultivation of energy crops. This creates alternative income sources for farmers as primary or energy producers and strengthens added value and employment. For the analysis a model is developed to assess the potential impacts of energy crop production on cropping activities. A basic quadratic version of PMP is used to maximize total gross margin in two regions, which allows one to simulate farmers` behavior under different conditions. Different scenarios show, that the bio-energy boom partially contributes to crop substitution effects. Potential energy crops like rye, rape seed or silage maize are more profitable. This has an impact on crop rotations because less profitable crops are substituted. However, these tendencies approach a limit in terms of limited area and crop rotational aspects.

Keywords: energy crops, land-use change, positive mathematical programming (PMP).