In order to secure the energy future and protect the environment, the U.S. is looking for renewable resources to meet the increasing energy demands for its electricity sector (which accounts for ≈ 40% of total U.S. energy consumption in 2011). The overall aim of this article is to summarize...

Bioethanol produced from lignocellulosic feedstock show enormous potential as an economically and environmentally sustainable renewable energy source. Switchgrass (panicum virgatum) is considered as one of the best second generation feedstock for bioethanol production. In order to commercialize...

This paper focuses on designing a hybrid generation bioethanol supply chain (HGBSC) that will account for economic, environmental and social aspects of sustainability under various uncertainties. A stochastic mixed integer linear programming model is proposed to design an optimal HGBSC. A case...

Biofuel energy as an alternative and additive form of energy to fossil fuel has gained much attention in recent times. In order to sustain such a vision, a robust supply chain is of extreme importance in helping to deliver competitive biofuel to the end user markets. In this paper, firstly, an...

In this paper, we propose a stochastic production planning model for a biofuel supply chain under demand and price uncertainties. The supply chain consists of biomass suppliers, biofuel refinery plants and distribution centers. A stochastic linear programming model is proposed within a...

Purpose – Malting barley is an important specialty crop in the Northern Plains and growers mitigate risk with federally subsidized crop insurance and production contracts. The purpose of this paper is to quantify risks growers face due to “coverage gaps” in crop insurance that result in...

There are enormous challenges to understanding cause-and-effect relationships among complex and dynamic systems. This article describes how systematic interactions among research, policy decisions, and evaluation of these decisions help develop and implement a multiyear federal research program...

Many of the North American railroads have introduced differentiated services for grain shipments in the past decade. Most interesting have been innovations in guaranteed railcar service which have evolved since their inception. In most cases, pricing and allocation of these services have used...

This article uses a unique data set to analyse economic factors that explain firm exit and the interrelation across firms in space when exiting. Results show the effectiveness of modelling spatial correlation in a logit exit model. Indeed, in our application, reliable statistical results could...

Ultimately what is being challenged is the impact of the patenting system, and the interpretation of certain anticompetitive practices. William W. Wilson & Bruce Dahl, North Dakota State University