Effect of agriculture practices on biofuels´ environmental footprint

Biobased production of fuels from renewable resources has gained high research and development priority due to issues of national security regarding US fossil fuel consumption and concerns about the environmental impacts of burgeoning greenhouse gases. Currently, most ethanol production in the US uses corn as the feedstock. However, corn production significantly contributes to water quality degradation, energy consumption and global warming. Row crop production in Corn Belt of the US contributes the highest fluxes of nitrogen and phosphorus to the Mississippi River Basin and is considered one of the primary contributors to the growing hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico. To minimize and control this hypoxia area, agriculture management practices in the Corn Belt will need to play an important role to reduce nutrient load.