Modeling the impacts of advanced biofuel production requires integrating models of crop production and its environmental effects with models of economic behavior. In order to explore approaches to model integration, an international workshop was held on Linking Biophysical and Economic Models of Biofuel Production and Environmental Impacts in Chicago, November 13-14, 2008. Workshop presenters summarized the state-of-the-art in biophysical models of crop yield, carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas fluxes, water quality and hydrology, and biodiversity benefits (notably natural pest control by native predators). The economic models presented capture likely farmer choices on what to grow and how to grow it, including the way that changes in crop supply feed back to affect prices.
The workshop was organized by Madhu Khanna of Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI) and Scott M. Swinton of the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) with César Izaurralde (GLBRC) and Atul Jain (EBI). Sponsors of the workshop were the EBI, the GLBRC, the Cooperativee State Research, Education and Extension Services of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Center for Advanced BioEnergy Research at the University of Illinois.
Executive summary (6 pages)
Presentation archive (agenda with downloadable PDF files of workshop presentations)
List of participants and affiliations
List of presentation abstracts and biographical sketches of presenters
For further information about this workshop, contact Scott Swinton (swintons@msu.edu) or Madhu Khanna (khanna1@illinois.edu).
