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Global demand is increasing for food, feed, and fiber; for additional agricultural outputs, such as biofuels; and for ecosystem services, such as clean water and outdoor recreation. In response, new agricultural enterprises are needed that produce more outputs from existing lands while meeting the "triple bottom line" of high performance in economic, environmental, and social terms. Establishing such enterprises requires coordination and development within three critical domains: landscape configurations (i.e., types and arrangements of land uses), supply/value chains (i.e., processing and utilization), and policy and governance. In this essay, we describe our efforts, as land-grant university scientists, to support coordinated innovation and enterprise development in integrated place-based institutions, which we term landlabs. We describe our experiences in three prototyping efforts and outline key features of landlabs that are emerging from these efforts. Land-grant universities have a central and crucial role to play in organizing and operating landlabs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The number of state policies aimed at fostering biomass utilization has proliferated in recent years in the United States. Several states aim to increase the use of forest and agriculture biomass through renewable energy production. Several more indirectly encourage utilization by targeting aspects of the supply chain from trees standing in the forest to goods sold. This research classifies 370 state policies from across the United States that provides incentives for forest biomass utilization. We compare those policies by types of incentives relative to the supply chain and geographic clustering. We then develop a framework for policy evaluation building on the supply chain steps, which can be used to assess intended and unintended consequences of policy interactions. These findings may inform policy development and identify synergies at different steps in the supply chain to enhance forest biomass utilization. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Many socioeconomic constraints exist for biomass removals from federal lands in the western U.S. We examine several issues of importance, including biomass supply chains and harvesting costs, innovative new uses for bioenergy products, and the policy framework in place to provide incentives for biomass use. Western states vary greatly in the extent and utilization of forest resources, the proportion of land under federal ownership, and community and stakeholder structure and dynamics. Our research—which focused on the socioeconomic factors associated with biomass removal, production, and use—identified several important trends. Long-term stewardship projects could play a role in influencing project economics while being conducive to private investment. State policies are likely to help guide the growth of biomass utilization for energy products. New markets and technologies, such as biofuels, for use in the aviation industry, torrefied wood, mobile pyrolysis, and wood coal cofiring could greatly change the landscape of biomass use. Social needs of residents in wildland urban interfaces will play an important role, especially in an era of megafires. All of these trends—including significant unknowns, like the volatile prices of fossil energy—are likely to affect the economics of biomass removal and use in western forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest biomass used for heating, electricity, and biofuel production is a source of energy that could reduce the dependence on energy imports while reinvesting domestically. Using the appropriate scale and technology, the US state of Minnesota is poised for increased forest bioenergy production due to the large existing forest products industry. Forest bioenergy investments have been slow to materialize despite state and federal incentives, and this research aims to determine what barriers there are to bioenergy development from the perspective of supply-chain actors by applying theories of natural resource governance. Findings from interviews include the need to create an equitable playing field in terms of energy subsidies and integrate forest bioenergy production with bio-based markets, including traditional forest product markets. Additionally, interviews indicate poor coordination and shared responsibility among state agencies, industry associations, and nonprofit organizations, resulting in a fragmented policy system. Principles to guide enabling forest bioenergy development are identified and discussed in the context of the study findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forestlands in the United States have tremendous potential for providing feedstocks necessary to meet emerging renewable energy standards. The Lake States region is one area recognized for its high potential of supplying forest-derived biomass; however, the long-term availability of roundwood harvests and associated residues from this region has not been fully explored. Better distribution and temporal availability estimates are needed to formulate emerging state policies regarding renewable energy development. We used a novel predictive methodology to quantify sustainable biomass availability and likely harvest levels over a 100-year period in the Lake States region. USDA Forest Inventory and Analysis estimates of timberland were combined with published growth and yield models, and historic harvest data using the Forest Age Class Change Simulator (FACCS) to generate availability estimates. Monte-Carlo simulation was used to develop probability distributions of biomass harvests and to incorporate the uncertainty of future harvest levels. Our results indicate that 11.27–15.71 Mt y −1 dry roundwood could be sustainably harvested from the Lake States. Assuming 65% collection rate, 1.87–2.62 Mt y −1 residue could be removed, which if substituted for coal would generate 2.12–2.99 GW h of electricity on equivalent energy basis while reducing GHG (CO 2 e) emission by 1.91–2.69 Mt annually. In addition to promoting energy security and reducing GHG emissions, forest residues for energy may create additional revenues and employment opportunities in a region historically dependent on forest-based industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest bioenergy is discussed in the literature as a potential mechanism to achieve multiple forest management and energy policy goals, and remains the subject of state and federal policy deliberations. In practice, forest bioenergy faces challenges from wavering public support and the availability of increasingly lower cost natural gas, wind, and solar energy. Here, we investigate the experience of stakeholders with forest bioenergy systems in four states—California, Florida, Minnesota, and New Hampshire—to better understand present-day barriers to and opportunities for continued operation of existing facilities and the potential deployment of new capacity. Building on insight generated from interviews with key informants at the national level, we conducted a comparative case study based on facility documents and interviews with facility managers, utility representatives, federal agency representatives, clean energy advocates, and other relevant stakeholders. We find that forest bioenergy often lacks a natural constituency willing or able to advocate on its behalf in policy deliberations, and that even proven facilities are vulnerable to fluctuations in state and federal policy. We conclude that shifting, uneven support for forest bioenergy impedes durable policy solutions, a condition that likely translates to limited opportunities for additional large, utility-scale facilities at the present time. • We evaluate four cases where bioenergy facilities were affected by changing policy. • Existing facilities are vulnerable to fluctuations in state and federal policy. • Shifting, uneven support for bioenergy impedes durable policy solutions. • Unlike other renewables, bioenergy is challenged by a lack of a natural advocate. • There are limited opportunities for new large, utility-scale facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]