Abstract
Population and economic growth are expected to cause an increment of 37% in world energy demand by 2040 and 60% in food production by 2050. Simultaneously, rural population is abandoning farms, and cities are becoming mega cities. Therefore, a challenge of increasing agricultural land efficiency exists. Hence, a design of a multifunctional farm is proposed in this research, where food and energy is produced within farm boundaries. A linear programming model was developed with the objective of minimizing area, considering agricultural land and the area needed for energy technologies. A Business as Usual Scenario and another two were analysed. In Scenario 1 residues are feedstock of CHP and biofuel. Scenario 2 includes solar PV and wind turbines. A region in Japan was selected and compared with one in Colombia, in order to realise challenges for each. The results indicate that including different crops from the status quo could help achieving the goal of supplying high energy needs in less space; such is the example of cassava root in Japan for biofuel generation. If land use and crops are considered with the model proposed, biofuel production may not interfere with food security.
