The Impact of US Biofuels Policy on Agricultural Production and Nitrogen Loads in Alabama

Table 6

Economic data for corn, cotton and soybeans production.

Crop	Cash Price: Baseline^a	Cash Price: Scenario; (a) 56.7 Mm^3a,b	Cash Price: Scenario; (b) 132.3 Mm^3a,b	Accounting Costs^c	Direct Payments^d	Base acreage^e
Corn	163.00	198.00	259.00	736.075	11.00	59.80
Cotton	119.60	155.90	162.50	1302.85	14.70	168.83
Soybeans	409.00	438.00	484.00	388.45	1.70	83.09

aCash prices are expressed in US $ ton⁻¹ [32]. ^bSource: [36]. ^cAccounting costs are expressed in US $ ha⁻¹ and are comprised of fixed and variable costs but do not include opportunity costs [33]. ^dDirect payments are expressed in US $ ton⁻¹. The total agricultural subsidy is calculated by multiplying the direct payment rate times 83.3% of the base acreage times the yield [31]. ^eBase acreage is expressed in ha and it was estimated as the average farm size in Alabama in 2007 (source: [32]).