Stephen R. Kaffka

Education (list each degree, the university from which it was received, the year, and the subject/major): 

• Ph.D., Cornell University; Agronomy, 1986
• M.S., Cornell University; Agronomy, 1983
• B.S., UC Santa Cruz; Biological Sciences, 1979

Research interests and expertise: 

Dr. Stephen Kaffka is extension agronomist and specialist in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of California, Davis, and Director of the California Biomass Collaborative. Current biomass energy crop research includes winter annual oilseed crops like canola, camelina and castor, sweet sorghum, sugar beets and sugar cane projects. He has also worked on agriculture and water quality projects including the use of salt-affected lands and low quality water supplies for biomass production using salt-tolerant grasses in the San Joaquin Valley of California, and agricultural and water quality issues in the upper Klamath Basin.

Kaffka is an advisor to the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis on bioenergy issues. He advises the California Energy Commission and the California Resources Agency on biomass energy and sustainability issues, and has served as an ex officio member of the stateís Bioenergy Interagency Work Group. He was a technical advisory committee member for the California Energy Commissionís Alternative and Renewable Fuels and Transportation Program.  Dr. Kaffka participated on the California Air Resources Boardís Sustainability Standards and Indirect Land Use Change workgroups.

Kaffka was a member of a National Research Councils committee producing a congressionally mandated report on the Renewable Fuel Standard, Potential Economic and Environmental Effects of U.S. Fuel Policy. He helped author the new SCOPE report: Bioenergy and Sustainability: Bridging the Gaps. From 2003 to 2007 he was director of the Long Term Research on Agricultural Systems Project at UC Davis, focused on the sustainability of farming systems in California. 

Current projects: 

• Oilseeds research: Winter annual brassica crops for bioenergy production: (Funding:  California Department of Food and Agriculture, and UC ANR Competitive Grants Program). 

  • Measurement and simulation of water-use by canola and camelina under cool-season conditions in California

  • Modeling identifies optimal fall planting times and irrigation requirements for canola and camelina at locations across California

  • https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/aj/pdfs/0/0/agronj2016.04.0247?search-result=1
• Oilseeds research: water requirements of cool season brassica oilseeds. (Funding:  Biodico Industries gift)
• Field scale determination of sugar beet water requirements. (California Beet Growers Research Committee)
• Evaluation of sugar beet varietal resistance to powdery mildew and Erwinia. (California Beet Growers Research Committee)
• Agricultural woody biomass assessment in Californiaís Central Valley (Funding: California Energy Commission and Aemetis, Inc., private gift)
• Biofuels from Sugarbeets in California (Funding: California Energy Commission)
• Methane mitigation strategies for dairy manure in California (Funding: California Air Resources Board)
• Evaluation of sugar beet varietal resistance to powdery mildew. (Funding: California Beet Growers Research Committee)
• Leader, ANR sugarbeet work group
• Biomass Energy potential from crops in California
  • http://biomass.ucdavis.edu/publications/
  • http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1757-1707.2011.01130.x/abstract
• Management of marginal lands and biomass energy potential from marginal lands in California
• Biomass energy potential from forested landscapes in California
• Advice and consulting for diverse biomass energy businesses interested in operating in California
• Effects of residue use for bioenergy on soil organic carbon (American Society of Agronomy and diverse sponsors)  
• Zero Net Energy Farm Project: Technical Advisory committee (California Energy Commission)
• University of California (Office of the President), Zero Net Energy project 
• Consulting for Government Accounting Officeís study on the Renewable Fuel Standard
• Policy Analysis: Renewable Fuel Standard. National Academy of Sciences 
• Sustainable Bioenergy Production on an international scale. (Funding: SCOPE)
  • http://bioenfapesp.org/scopebioenergy/index.php
  • http://bioenfapesp.org/scopebioenergy/index.php/chapters
  • http://bioenfapesp.org/scopebioenergy/index.php
  • http://bioenfapesp.org/scopebioenergy/index.php/chapters
  • http://bioenfapesp.org/scopebioenergy/index.php
  • http://bioenfapesp.org/scopebioenergy/index.php/chapters

External activities that contribute to scholarship:

• Director, California Biomass Collaborative
• Member, California Energy Commission's Alternative Fuels and Renewable Transportation Program Advisory Committee
• Member, California Air Resources board Sustainability Standards Committee
• Associate editor, California Agriculture

Prizes, Awards, Honors:

• Meritorious Service Award, American Society of Sugar Beet Technologists, 2007, 2009

Google Scholar

ORCID

Keywords:  

• Bioenergy
• Biofuels
• Biomass
• Crop ecology
• Agroecology
• Oilseeds
• Sugar beets
• Salinity management
• Water quality