Dear Colleagues,

Field energy crops can provide biomass feedstock for bioenergy and/or biofuels. In order for the food vs. fuel competition to be avoided, a long-lasting topic of debate, field energy crops are proposed to be grown on surplus, less favorable agricultural, marginal, and/or contaminated lands. Field energy crops are grouped to perennial crops (perennial grasses, woody species, perennial herbaceous crops) and annual crops (oilseeds, annual herbaceous). Perennial energy crops (like miscanthus, switchgrass, willow, poplar, cardoon, etc.) need long-term commitment since their lifetime varies from 10 to 20 years and are thus proposed to be grown on surplus, less favorable, marginal, and/or contaminated lands, while annual crops (such as camelina, sweet and fiber sorghum, castor, safflower, etc.) can also be grown in rotation with conventional agricultural crops on typical agricultural areas without affecting the yields of conventional food and feed crops. The majority of field energy crops are high-yielding biomass crops that can be grown successfully under low-input agricultural practices and can also be used for land decontamination of soils polluted with inorganic and/or organic pollutants.

Dr. Efthymia Alexopoulou
Guest Editor

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• energy crops
• bioenergy
• biofuels
• biomass feedstock
• marginal lands
• contaminated lands
• non-food crops
• low-input practices
• sustainability