Biomass energy production in agriculture: A weighted goal programming analysis

Energyproductionfrombiomassescanbeanimportantresourcethat,whencombinedwithothergreen energiessuchaswindpowerandsolarplants,cancontributetoreducedependencyonfossilfuels.The aim ofthisstudyistoassesshowagriculturecouldcontributetotheproductionofbio-energy.Amulti- periodWeightedGoalProgrammingmodel(MpWGP)hasbeenappliedtoidentifytheoptimallanduse combinationsthatsimultaneouslymaximisefarmers’incomeandbiomassenergyproductionunder three concurrentconstraints:water,labourandsoilavailability.Alternativescenariosareconsideredthat take intoaccounttheeffectofclimatechangeandsocialchange.TheMpWGPmodelwastestedwithdata from theRovigocountyarea(Italy)overa15-yeartimeperiod. Our findingsshowthattrade-offexistsbetweenthetwooptimisationtargetsconsidered.Although the optimisationofthefirsttargetrequirestraditionalagriculturalcrops,whicharecharacterisedbyhigh revenueandalowproductionofbiomassenergy,thelatterwouldbeachievablewithintensivewood production,namely,high-energyproductionandlowincome.Ourresultsalsoshowtheimportanceofthe constraintsimposed,particularlywateravailability;waterscarcityhasanoverallnegativeeffectand specificallyaffectsthelevelofenergyproduction.