Biofuel Cropping Systems: Carbon, Land and Food - Tapa dura

'The book Biofuel Cropping Systems is a much welcome contribution to the growing list of publications about biofuels. What places this book apart from many other publications is the special attention to feedstock production systems, where solid on-the-ground knowledge is combined with a forward-looking view on how challenges can be met and good performing biofuel cropping systems be developed for the future. I warmly recommend this book as a vital source of information for students as well as for researchers, biofuel producers and policy makers.' - Göran Berndes, PhD, Associate Professor, Physical Resource Theory, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden

Choosing appropriate practices and policies for biofuel production requires an understanding of how soils, climate, farm types, infrastructure, markets and social organisation affect the establishment and performance of these crops. The book highlights land use dynamics, cultivation practices related to conversion and wider impacts. It explores how biofuel production chain development is steered by emerging technologies and management practices and how both can be influenced by effective policies designed to encourage sustainable biofuel production.

The book highlights major biofuel production chains including:

• cane cultivation in Brazil
• corn ethanol in the USA
• wheat and rapeseed in Europe
• oil palm in the Far East
• cane in Asia and Africa
• SRC and other lignocellulosic crops.

In each case the development, cropping systems and impacts are discussed, system dynamics are shown and lessons drawn for the way things could or should change.

Biofuel Cropping Systems is a vital resource for all those who want to understand the way biofuels are produced and how they impact other elements of society and especially how improvements can be made. It is a handbook for students, biofuel producers, researchers and policymakers in energy and agriculture.