This is a interesting paper from the perspectives both of the food vs biofuel debate and biofuels vs livestock. The paper finds that it is much more energy-efficient to grow grain for human food than for ethanol, which is best produced with grasses.
This is a interesting paper from the perspectives both of the food vs biofuel debate and biofuels vs livestock. The paper finds that it is much more energy-efficient to grow grain for human food than for ethanol, which is best produced with grasses.
The study compared different ways of growing corn, soybean, and wheat (conventional, no-tillage, low input, and organic with cover), as well as continuous alfalfa, and found that some were more efficient than others. The least efficient method for grain was conventional tillage, which is used for more than 60% of these crops today and requires 40% more energy than the most efficient, which is no-tillage. The most efficient overall was alfalfa grown for biofuels, and the least efficient alfalfa use was for cattle feed.
Gelfan I, Snapp S S , Robertson G P (2010). Energy Efficiency of Conventional, Organic, and Alternative Cropping Systems for Food and Fuel at a Site in the U.S. Midwest, Environmental Science & Technology DOI: 10.1021/es903385g.
You can download the paper here (subscription only, or contact the corresponding author).
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