Estimating Available Abandoned Cropland in the United States
Possibilities for Energy Crop Production
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7634985 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ryan E Baxter (Pennsylvania State University), Kirby Calvert (0000-0002-6608-5786, University of Guelph), Kirby E Calvert |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 107 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 1162-1178 |
| Publication date | 2017-09-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Annals of the American Association of Geographers (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2469-4452 • E-ISSN: 2469-4460 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/24694452.2017.1298985 |
| OpenAlex | W2607344177 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 37 |
Abandoned cropland (ACL) is often cited as a land resource on which to produce energy crops while reducing the negative impacts of broad-scale energy crop production; for example, carbon emissions from land-cover change and competition with food production. In contrast to marginal land, which refers to a set of biophysical and economic criteria usually imposed by experts or policymakers, the designation of ACL refers to a land-use decision by a land owner. As such, ACL is argued to be a more appropriate indication of land availability for dedicated energy crop production. Prevailing estimates of ACL in the United States vary widely due to inconsistent treatment of land-use conversions away from cropland and overreliance on remote sensing methods that measure land cover, even though ACL is a category of land use. This article develops and applies a replicable and flexible methodology to estimate available abandoned cropland (AACL) at the county level in the United States, which accounts for conversion of ACL to forest cover, urban development, or permanent pasture. Estimates of AACL are derived for two scenarios: (1) land abandoned between 1978 and 2012, which excludes lands with meaningful forest regrowth, and (2) land abandoned between 2007 and 2012, which corresponds to land-use constraints imposed by the Renewable Fuel Standard. Results show that 15.0 and 4.9 Mha of AACL exist in the United States in the two scenarios, respectively, amounting to between only 3 and 8 percent of total light-duty gasoline consumption in the United States. The policy implications of these findings and the need for future research are discussed
Agricultural economics · Agricultural land · Agroforestry · Economics · Geography · Land cover · Land management · Land use · Natural resource economics · Renewable energy · Bioenergy crop production and management · Environmental Science · Forest Biomass Utilization and Management · Forest Management and Policy
Symbolic meanings, landowner support, and dedicated bioenergy crops in the rural northeastern United States
Management opportunities for soil carbon sequestration following agricultural land abandonment
Available land for cellulosic biofuel production
Cropland abandonment between 1986 and 2018 across the United States
Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions from Land-Use Change
Estimating historical changes in global land cover
Estimating global land use change over the past 300 years
Beneficial Biofuels—The Food, Energy, and Environment Trilemma
Land Clearing and the Biofuel Carbon Debt
Farming the planet
Cropland expansion outpaces agricultural and biofuel policies in the United States
Alternative trajectories of land abandonment
Making Space for Energy
What wastelands? A critique of biofuel policy discourse in South India
Marginal land and the global land rush
Marginal lands
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,57 |
| Citation span | 2019 - 2024 (6) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |