Search

The future course of the political regulation of bioenergy will have a significant sustainability impact on many levels. Understanding the specific effects of different political governance strategies on the agricultural system is essential for developing a stable and economically, ecologically as well as socially sustainable market for bioenergy. This paper contributes to this objective by providing an analysis of different decision patterns of farmers in the production of energy crops. For this purpose, an empirical analysis was conducted among farmers in the federal state of Brandenburg in northern Germany. A cluster analysis of structural factors resulted in a typology of farmers that differ in their energy crop production decisions. Six cluster typologies are identified for each of which a cluster-specific conjoint analysis helped to identify decision preferences in order to understand how and to what degree structural farm characteristics as well as respective production “traditions” influence the willingness to produce crops for energy use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On a global scale, the share of energy produced from biomass in total energy production has significantly increased in recent years. At the same time, the ecological and social risks and benefits related to the increasing production of bioenergy are not yet fully understood. From a social perspective, bioenergy has often been promoted as a promising development strategy for rural development. Little research, however, has explicitly addressed questions as to whether the current developments in bioenergy production actually lead to noticeable changes in rural living conditions. In this article we thus present the results of an exploratory investigation of the perceived impacts of bioenergy production on the quality of life of the rural population in the federal state of Brandenburg, Germany. For this purpose, a survey instrument was developed based on the theoretical concept of quality of life adapted specifically for the case of bioenergy. The analysis revealed that the perceptions of impacts on general living conditions in the region are considerably more pronounced than perceptions of impacts on the personal living environment. Statistically significant linkages between the impacts of bioenergy and life satisfaction could be identified primarily for nature and ecology-related effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]