Assessing the possibility of price-induced yield improvements to reduce land-use change emissions from ethanol

Abstract The greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) associated with corn ethanol have received considerable attention over the last decade. Higher commodity prices from additional US ethanol demand leads to land-use change in the United States and globally, potentially leading to significant GHG emissions. Some research argues that higher commodity prices also result in yield increases above the trend. This yield increase is due to farmers changing management practices to increase returns. This chapter assesses by how much yields can increase above the trend in different parts of the world. This chapter uses a global agricultural outlook model and geographic information system data to quantify the potential increase in global commodity yields.