The expansion of agrofuels in Midwestern United States and the effects of ethanol plants installation in Western Kansas

• Grant number: 16/22113-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: February 01, 2017
• End date: January 31, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Geography - Human Geography
• Principal Investigator: Antonio Nivaldo Hespanhol
• Grantee: Flávio de Arruda Saron
• Supervisor: John Christopher Brown
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia (FCT). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Presidente Prudente. Presidente Prudente , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Kansas, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 14/04431-9 - The expansion of the sugarcane industry on the West of São Paulo State and its effects on the family farm in the Pontal of Paranapanema and Northwest, BP.DR

Abstract

The research internship to be carried out in the United States has the goal of analyzing the expansion of agrofuel production in the Midwest, specially the transformations caused by the enlargement of ethanol plants in Western Kansas upon agriculture, the rural space and the implications of this process on family farmers. Kansas is not one of the main producers of ethanol in the U.S., but has recorded the installation of many ethanol plants from 2000 on, adding new elements to the rural space of Kansas, a big producer of wheat and meat. The research internship's main purpose is to compare the effects caused by the deployment of ethanol plants in Western Kansas (area occupied by farming destined to the production of ethanol and mostly corn; profile ethanol enterprises, such as capital composition, farmer cooperatives or big corporations; profile farmers involved in the ethanol production, family and nonfamily, with owned or leased lands) with the impacts caused by the installation of sugar-cane power plants in the Pontal do Paranapanema and Northwestern State of Sao Paulo. Thereby, the research internship will support the development of regular research in the country with the incorporation of new bibliographical references, techniques and approaches about the study on the expansion of agribusiness and agrofuels.