The True Costs and Benefits of Miscanthus Cultivation
Agroecosystems provide numerous ecosystem services (ESs) such as provisioning, regulating, habitat and cultural services. At the same time, the management of these agroecosystems can cause various negative impacts on the environment such as the generation of greenhouse gas emissions. However, the wa...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Agronomy |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/12/12/3071 |
| _version_ | 1797461829542215680 |
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| author | Moritz Wagner Bastian Winkler Jan Lask Jan Weik Andreas Kiesel Mirjam Koch John Clifton-Brown Moritz von Cossel |
| author_facet | Moritz Wagner Bastian Winkler Jan Lask Jan Weik Andreas Kiesel Mirjam Koch John Clifton-Brown Moritz von Cossel |
| author_sort | Moritz Wagner |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Agroecosystems provide numerous ecosystem services (ESs) such as provisioning, regulating, habitat and cultural services. At the same time, the management of these agroecosystems can cause various negative impacts on the environment such as the generation of greenhouse gas emissions. However, the way humans manage agroecosystems often focuses only on the production of agricultural goods, which yield monetary benefits in the short term but do not include the positive and negative external effects on ESs. In order to enable a holistic assessment of the economic and environmental costs and benefits, the current study combines the production costs, the monetary value of the ESs provided and the monetization of the environmental impacts caused by the management of agroecosystems using the perennial crop miscanthus as an example. Depending on the scenario assessed, the cultivation of miscanthus leads to a net benefit of 140 to 3051 EUR ha<sup>−1</sup> yr<sup>−1</sup>. The monetary value of the ESs provided by the miscanthus cultivation thereby considerably outweighs the internal and external costs. The approach applied allows for a holistic assessment of the benefits and costs of agroecosystems and thus enables management decisions that are not only based on the biomass yield but include the various interactions with the environment. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T17:25:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5a8f1edf55dc469e8206cde4030d1401 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4395 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T17:25:57Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Agronomy |
| spelling | doaj.art-5a8f1edf55dc469e8206cde4030d14012023-11-24T12:45:57ZengMDPI AGAgronomy2073-43952022-12-011212307110.3390/agronomy12123071The True Costs and Benefits of Miscanthus CultivationMoritz Wagner0Bastian Winkler1Jan Lask2Jan Weik3Andreas Kiesel4Mirjam Koch5John Clifton-Brown6Moritz von Cossel7Department of Applied Ecology, Hochschule Geisenheim University, 65366 Geisenheim, GermanyDepartment of Biobased Resources in the Bioeconomy (340b), Institute of Crop Science, University of Hohenheim, 70599 Stuttgart, GermanyDepartment of Biobased Resources in the Bioeconomy (340b), Institute of Crop Science, University of Hohenheim, 70599 Stuttgart, GermanyDepartment of Biobased Resources in the Bioeconomy (340b), Institute of Crop Science, University of Hohenheim, 70599 Stuttgart, GermanyDepartment of Biobased Resources in the Bioeconomy (340b), Institute of Crop Science, University of Hohenheim, 70599 Stuttgart, GermanyDepartment of Applied Ecology, Hochschule Geisenheim University, 65366 Geisenheim, GermanyiFZ Research Centre for Biosystems, Justus Liebig University, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26, 35392 Gießen, GermanyDepartment of Biobased Resources in the Bioeconomy (340b), Institute of Crop Science, University of Hohenheim, 70599 Stuttgart, GermanyAgroecosystems provide numerous ecosystem services (ESs) such as provisioning, regulating, habitat and cultural services. At the same time, the management of these agroecosystems can cause various negative impacts on the environment such as the generation of greenhouse gas emissions. However, the way humans manage agroecosystems often focuses only on the production of agricultural goods, which yield monetary benefits in the short term but do not include the positive and negative external effects on ESs. In order to enable a holistic assessment of the economic and environmental costs and benefits, the current study combines the production costs, the monetary value of the ESs provided and the monetization of the environmental impacts caused by the management of agroecosystems using the perennial crop miscanthus as an example. Depending on the scenario assessed, the cultivation of miscanthus leads to a net benefit of 140 to 3051 EUR ha<sup>−1</sup> yr<sup>−1</sup>. The monetary value of the ESs provided by the miscanthus cultivation thereby considerably outweighs the internal and external costs. The approach applied allows for a holistic assessment of the benefits and costs of agroecosystems and thus enables management decisions that are not only based on the biomass yield but include the various interactions with the environment.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/12/12/3071life-cycle assessmentecosystem servicestrue cost accountingmonetizationbioeconomymiscanthus |
| spellingShingle | Moritz Wagner Bastian Winkler Jan Lask Jan Weik Andreas Kiesel Mirjam Koch John Clifton-Brown Moritz von Cossel The True Costs and Benefits of Miscanthus Cultivation Agronomy life-cycle assessment ecosystem services true cost accounting monetization bioeconomy miscanthus |
| title | The True Costs and Benefits of Miscanthus Cultivation |
| title_full | The True Costs and Benefits of Miscanthus Cultivation |
| title_fullStr | The True Costs and Benefits of Miscanthus Cultivation |
| title_full_unstemmed | The True Costs and Benefits of Miscanthus Cultivation |
| title_short | The True Costs and Benefits of Miscanthus Cultivation |
| title_sort | true costs and benefits of miscanthus cultivation |
| topic | life-cycle assessment ecosystem services true cost accounting monetization bioeconomy miscanthus |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/12/12/3071 |
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