Doctoral Dissertation Research: Biofuels Production in the U.S. Midwest: Negotiating Social and Ecological Outcomes Across Place and Scale

美国已经启动了一项大幅增加生物燃料生产的倡议，《能源独立和安全法》(2007年)和2008年《农场法案》规定了激励措施和任务。倡导者认为，生物燃料提供了一种手段来减少温室气体排放，改善农村社会经济未来，并减少对外国石油的依赖。反对者发现，生物燃料对食品供应、碳排放和土地利用变化的影响令人担忧。尽管美国国内生物燃料，特别是玉米乙醇的产量有所增加，但人们对美国中西部生物燃料产量的增加将如何改变农业和地区层面的社会和环境结果，或者将如何与农业、能源和环境相关的更广泛的环境治理进程相互作用知之甚少。这项研究旨在通过以下问题来填补这一知识空白：1)在生物燃料发展的背景下，爱荷华州的农业和保护做法是如何改变的？2)农民、保育人员和农村居民认为，增加生物燃料生产带来的机会、风险和成本是什么？3)生物燃料生产与更广泛的范围(即地方、国家和全球)的环境治理进程有何关系？这些问题建立在农业政治经济学、环境治理、农村研究和政治生态学等领域的见解基础上，将用定量和定性的一手和二手数据来源来回答。数据收集方法将包括半结构化访谈和参与者观察，目的是了解农民农业和养护做法的变化以及他们在生物燃料工业发展方面的经验。保育人员改变农业环境目标和做法的经验以及居民对生物燃料产业发展的经验也将通过访谈进行评估。定性数据收集将集中在爱荷华州东北部，那里的牲畜和谷物混合养殖、几个生物精炼厂和地形多变的地形使与生物燃料生产相关的变化多种多样且可见。对这些数据的补充将是收集和分析关于土地利用变化和工业发展的现有量化数据。预计这项博士论文研究将揭示与生物燃料行业增长和大宗商品和其他农业市场波动有关的农业和保护实践中农民决策的关键组成部分。未来对生物燃料的公共和私人投资可能会很大，农村地区维持生物燃料生产的社会和生态效益的能力将取决于环境治理机制、农民作出决定的社会和政治经济背景以及居民如何权衡环境管理的好处和生物燃料的承诺好处。该项目的结果将直接补充关于生物燃料后果的经验知识，并为环境治理、农业和农村研究的政治经济学以及政治生态学的研究增加深度和广度。此外，这些成果将为应对气候变化的未来几轮决策和研究提供信息，并努力实现更可持续的农业，从而保持社会经济和环境质量的提高。

The United States has embarked on an initiative to greatly increase the production of biofuels, with incentives and mandates inscribed in the Energy Independence and Security Act (2007) and the 2008 Farm Bill. Advocates argue that biofuels provide a means to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, improve rural socioeconomic futures, and reduce dependence on foreign oil. Opponents find biofuels' consequences for food availability, carbon emissions and land use change to be worrisome. Despite an increased domestic production of biofuels, especially corn ethanol, little is known about how increased biofuels production in the US Midwest will change social and environmental outcomes at farm and regional levels or will interact with broader processes of environmental governance occurring at the nexus of agriculture, energy and the environment. This research aims to fill this knowledge gap by asking: 1) How are agriculture and conservation practices changing in Iowa in the context of biofuels development? 2) What are the opportunities, risks and costs associated with increased biofuels production, as seen by farmers, conservation agents and rural residents? 3) How does biofuels production relate to broader processes of environmental governance across scale (i.e. local, national and global)? These questions build on insights from the fields of political economy of agriculture, environmental governance, rural studies and political ecology and will be answered with both quantitative and qualitative primary and secondary data sources. Data-collection methods will include semi-structured interviews and participant observation aimed at gaining an understanding of change in farmers' agricultural and conservation practices and their experience of biofuels industry development. Conservation agents' experience of changing agri-environmental goals and practice and residents' experiences of biofuels industry development will also be assessed through interviews. Qualitative data collection will be focused in northeastern Iowa, where mixed livestock and grain farming, several biorefineries and a topographically varied landscape make change associated with biofuels production to be varied and visible. These data will be complemented by the collection and analysis of available quantitative data on land use change and industry development. It is expected that this doctoral dissertation research will reveal key components involved in farmer decision-making in agricultural and conservation practice in relation to biofuels industry growth and volatility in commodity and other agricultural markets. Future public and private investments in biofuels are likely to be significant and the ability of rural areas to maintain social and ecological benefits of biofuels production will depend upon mechanisms of environmental governance, the social and political economic context within which farmer decisions are made, and how residents weigh the benefits of environmental stewardship with the promised benefits of biofuels. The project's results will directly supplement empirical knowledge of biofuels' consequences and add depth and scope to research in environmental governance, the political economy of agriculture and rural studies, and political ecology. Moreover, these results will enable the maintenance of socio-economic and environmental quality gains by informing future rounds of policy-making and research addressing climate change and working to achieve a more sustainable agriculture.