Giant reedasenergycropforSouthernItaly: An economicfeasibilitystudy
Among renewablesourcesgiantreedhasattractedagrowinginterestasenergycropespeciallyin Southern Europe,thankstoitslowagronomicinputrequirements.Thispaperaimedatevaluatingthe economic feasibilityofintroductionofgiantreedplantationasenergycropintheSouthernItaly.In particular,aneconomicand financial analysiswasperformedbycomparinggiantreed(bothfor woodchip andchoppedforageproduction)withtraditionalcrops(pluriannualandannual)thatare currentlycultivatedinthesamearea,suchaswinegrape,melonandtomato.Resultsshowedthehighest profitability ofgiantreedrespecttoothercropswithcurrentmarketprices.Inparticular,giantreed destined towoodchipproductiondenotedthehighestannualgrossmarginwithavalueof647.10 € ha1, f…