INTERDISCIPLINARITY AS A METHODOLOGICAL NECESSITY IN AGRICULTURAL BIOENERGY INVESTMENT ANALYSIS: BRIDGING AGROECOLOGICAL AND FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

This article argues that the financial appraisal of agricultural bioenergy investments — specifically agrivoltaic and agricultural-waste biogas projects — cannot be conducted soundly within a single disciplinary frame, and develops a methodological case for treating agroecological and financial analysis as jointly necessary rather than sequentially separable. Building on the author's earlier applied work on energy-generating directions in Ukraine's agricultural sector (Kostiuk & Bytiutskyi, 2024), the article identifies systematic blind spots that arise when either discipline is applied in isolation: financial appraisal conducted without agroecological input tends to overstate returns by ignoring crop-yield effects, seasonal feedstock variability and land-use constraints, while agroecological assessment conducted without financial input tends to recommend technically sound configurations that are not bankable under realistic financing barriers and cost-of-capital conditions. Two domains are used to illustrate the argument: agrivoltaic co-location, where shading and microclimate effects on crop yield directly determine the blended revenue model, and agricultural-waste biogas, where seasonal feedstock availability and digestate nutrient value directly determine feedstock-supply risk and revenue offsets. The article concludes that agricultural bioenergy investment analysis constitutes a distinct case for interdisciplinary methodology, in which the two disciplinary perspectives must be integrated within a single analytical framework rather than conducted as parallel, independently sufficient assessments.

References

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