The rise of flex crops and commodities: implications for research

Figures & data

Figure 1. Virchow et al.’s biomass-based value web.

Source: Virchow et al. (2014) as cited in Rural 21 (2014, n. p.).

Figure 2. Changes in Crude Oil Prices, the Production of U.S. Shale Oil, and the Global Production of Major Flexible Biofuel Feedstocks (2000–2013).

Notes: Data for soybean, maize, sugarcane, oil palm, and rapeseed all refer to global production; crude oil prices refer to the U.S. crude oil first purchase price; oil shale production refers to the production of U.S. tight oil. All values are indexed to the year 2000.
Sources: FAOSTAT 2015; U.S. Energy Information Administration 2015a; and U.S. Energy Information Administration 2015b.

Table 1: Elasticity of Biofuel Feedstocks to Changing Crude Oil Prices

	Maize	Oil Palm	Soybean	Sugarcane	Rapeseed
Responsiveness of Crop Production (2008-10) to Oil Price Drop (2008-09)	−0.06	−0.20	−0.37	0.05	−0.09
Responsiveness of Crop Production (2009-12) to Oil Price Increase (2009-11)	0.10	0.28	0.11	0.13	0.05

Sources: FAOSTAT 2015 U.S. Energy Information Administration 2015b. Authors’ calculations.

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