Will cellulosic ethanol pose a future
challenge to poultry?
Would federal incentives for the production of biomass for cellulosic ethanol
put new pressure on corn and soybean acres?
BY GARY THORNTON
;;Poultry producers are due some economic relief from
high feed costs with corn-ethanol mandates set to level
off in 2015. Now, however, cellulosic ethanol proponents
are ready to drive food and fuel policy—and it raises the
specter of new ethanol-related incentives or mandates.
This is from Gary Thornton’s All Things Poultry blog: www.WATTAgNet.com/GaryThornton.html
It raises unexpected questions. For example, would
corn yields increase to 250 bushels in 10 years? That’s
what some proponents of cellulosic ethanol are betting
can happen to allow more acreage to be available for the
production of cellulosic biomass.
That's the thinking advanced in the Council for
Agricultural Science and Technology issue paper,
"Food, fuel and plant nutrient use in the future," which
examines the connections between the world's needs
for food and fuel and the use of soil nutrients. David
US corn use productivity and land use
180
120
160
100
140
Corn yield (bushels/acre)
Million acres harvested
120
100
80
80
1870
1880
60
1890
Acres
1900
60
40
1910
1920
40
1930
20
20
1940
Yield
0
0
1860
1950
1970
1980
2000
2010
1960
1990
Some proponents of cellulosic ethanol are betting corn yields can increase to 250 bushels per acre to allow more acreage to
be available for the production of cellulosic biomass.
