Identifying energy production opportunities with event-based decision-making for agricultural systems

Primary production losses often occur due to uncertainties in weather conditions and poor farm management. To opportunely allocate Food, Water and Energy resources, event-based decision-making becomes a key factor in improving system productivity. Key farm events include planting, harvesting, tillage, pesticide and fertilizer applications, cover crop establishment, and biomass harvesting. The objective of event-based decision making is to ensure these operations occur to their maximum effect. Our goal is to explore a successful integration of Food and Energy systems by applying modeling tools to optimize the grain-biomass-fuel supply chain with event-based decision making. By adjusting the window of opportunity for corn harvesting, biomass harvesting becomes more flexible, and both grain and biomass losses are minimized. Preliminary results from a case study in Champaign, Illinois, show that grain system efficiency can be increased as grain losses can be reduced when corn harvesting schedules are optimized. Two key integrations are expected to further increase efficiency and reduce system costs: strategic and tactical decisions being simultaneously considered, as well as fuel processing plants that process both grain and biomass feedstocks. Stakeholders in the farm and industry businesses could greatly benefit from an integrated and more cost-efficient approach for crop residue utilization and renewable energy production.