Possible Effects of Corn Stover Removal on Soil Erosion in Iowa: A Panel Data Analysis Subbu Kumarappan 1 , Majd Abdulla 2 1 Graduate Student, 202, Ag Hall, Michigan State University, kumarapp@msu.edu 2 Iowa State University Summary This study uses the Iowa Soil Properties and Interpretations Database for the years 2005- 07 and National Resources Inventory of Iowa for the year 1997 – the sub-county level data points (across a decade time frame) can help understand how soil erosion, soil nutrients and organic matter have changed over time with a focus on the impacts of emerging cropping patterns and changing agricultural residue cover on fields. The temporal data will be used to fit regression models using panel data analytic methods. The results can provide estimates of changes to soil erosion, nutrient or organic matter in the next 10-15 years upon removal of residues on a large scale basis for cellulosic ethanol production. Introduction Cellulosic materials - such as dedicated energy crops, agricultural residues, organic portion of municipal solid wastes, forestry and paper mill residues (EERE) - for ethanol production have begun to get more attention as alternative feedstocks for ethanol production. While the conventional feedstock – corn – has come under criticism for the environmental problems associated with intensive cultivation and larger use of fertilizer and pesticides, the possible environmental issues caused by cellulosic feedstocks are not fully known yet. See Table 1 for a summary of the few major issues in this regard: Table 1. Issues associated with cellulosic feedstocks for ethanol production. Cellulosic Feedstock Advantages Concerns or Issues Dedicated energy crops Low input production, possible high yields Requires high yield levels (6 to 8 tons/ac/year) to become competitive, creation of new supply chains and infrastructure Agricultural residues Readily available, existing harvesting equipments can be modified to collect residues as well Possible soil erosion and loss of soil nutrients due to residue removal Forestry and paper mill residues Sustainable supply, cheaper source of biomass Limited in quantities This analysis studies the extent of soil erosion possibly resulting due to residue removal for cellulosic ethanol production in the state of Iowa. The recent analyses on soil erosion have focused on modeling the field level soil movements using sophisticated models; while the micro