Identification and Evaluation of Sustainable Intensification Options for Crop Residue Production

Abstract

In the fight against climate change, the use of bioenergy has been described as a viable option. To address the issues of the “food versus feed” and land use change, the use of crop residues for bioenergy has been proposed as these would not affect either of the two. The aim of this thesis was to calculate the current sustainable potential of residues in North-Rhine Westphalia and evaluate possible sustainable intensification options to increase this potential. This was done by conducting interviews with experts from different stakeholder groups in the region to gain their insight on the proposed options and performing a techno-economic analysis to quantitatively determine the sustainable potential using agricultural-ecological zones. Overall, it was found that crop residues, while having a sizable sustainable potential, were not viewed as a good source for bioenergy by experts. Most experts interviewed did not find crop residues to be a viable option due mostly to concerns about soil fertility and a lack of technical options to circumvent these. The techno-economic analysis revealed a sustainable potential of 9.474 to -3.687 TJ and a possible increase of 828 TJ through the increase of higher crop residue yielding crop rotations and a further maximum 4777 TJ increase should cattle number continue to decrease in the region. These results differ to some extent to previous studies because the approach used crop rotations rather than individual crops and animal fodder was considered which has not been a factor in other studies. This study revealed that while a potential sustainable uses of crop residues for bioenergy as well as increases in crop residues are possible, the use is not viewed as a practical source for bioenergy in North-Rhine Westphalia by local experts. Recommendations for further research include the current use of soil conserving tillage methods in NRW as they were not considered in this research as well as consulting more experts, especially farmers, as the number of interviewed experts was limited.