Bioeconomy transitions: Cross-sector collaboration at the conservation-economy nexus

Background/Question/Methods

Production and marketing of perennial grasses for bioenergy and bio-products potentially delivers conservation, amenity, and production benefits at landscape scales.  However, market inertia resulting from uncertainty and risk has stalled development of bioeconomies.  National policy has had limited impact on the inertia.  Transitions to future bioeconomies, therefore, may require novel interventions.  A potentially transformative approach is collaborative design, deployment and monitoring of at-scale bioenergy systems as jointly undertaken pilot initiatives.  As think- and do-tanks collaborative pilot initiatives can reduce the time, financial resources and expertise required of individual participants (otherwise acting alone) to understand and benefit from novel systems.  We are piloting a cross-sector collaborative approach to multi-objective bioenergy project development in southern Wisconsin.  Our goal is to produce a distributable, socially innovative model of project development that demonstrates the sustainability advantages within the conservation-economy nexus.  We anticipate greater opportunity for communities and businesses to gain entry into and influence direction of nascent bioeconomies.  This in turn will lead to bioeconomy expansion with increased landscape multifunctionality over time.

Results/Conclusions

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the University of Wisconsin-Madison have jointly initiated a landscape-scale biomass harvest experiment.  The experiment is the basis for understanding whether production and harvest of diverse perennial grass communities fulfills wildlife habitat management goals;  feasibility of diverse end-uses of harvested materials;  and formation of local value chains.  Building upon the experiment, core collaborators from industry, agribusiness, and research have initiated a collaborative process to achieve multiple objectives including: location of an anaerobic digester that uses perennial grass biomass; exploration of landscape configurations of perennial grass production and alternative supply chain scenarios; understanding effects on existing markets of animal bedding and conventional haying; establishing system monitoring protocols; and formulation of adaptive responses to knowledge gained over time.  While the challenges are many, essential progress has been achieved in commitment among collaborators, identification of shared values, and the formation of a strategic plan.  Future goals include partnership with a dedicated energy off-taker and engagement with a wider stake-holder group.