Energy-farming is set to become a reality, in line with new proposals from the EU.
EU leaders agreed to increase renewable energy use by 20 percent and set a 10 percent minimum target on biofuels usage in transport. Member states have also pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent from 1990 levels. The deadline to meet all three targets, which were unveiled following a summit in Brussels, is 2020.
For farmers, this means a burgeoning industry in the growing of biofuels, but also an important sideline in creating other renewables, such as wind farming and solar power.
NFU president Peter Kendall said that all three targets are good news for agri-business. “We already have a biofuels target for 2010,” he noted. “And this is sending out a long-term signal about how the market is going to develop beyond that point.”
Kendall stressed that a long-term strategy was particularly important for the farming industry because potential bigger gains from transport biofuels could come in the form of ‘second generation’ new technologies that entail the use of agricultural residues as well as specially-grown low-carbon crops.
The NFU is currently supporting the carbon and sustainability reporting system under development with the UK Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) to determine which biofuels are the most energy efficient.
