European farmers have an excellent chance to
profit from the drive towards replacing imported fossil fuels
with home-produced biofuels, says the
EU Commission president.
Addressing the
International Green Week in Berlin - Europe's largest food and
farming event - Jose Manuel Barroso said farmers had a key role to
play in the "low carbon revolution" that Europe was trying to
stimulate.
"The reform of the
CAP,
in particular the move to cut the link between support and
production, has to some extent prepared the ground by enabling you
to concentrate production on what the market demands," he said. The
EU was also encouraging
farmers to produce biofuels through specific energy crops scheme
and the possibility of using set-aside for non-food crops.
The recently-annouced
EU energy
policy, which sets a mandatory target of 10% biofuels in road
fuels by 2020, would also have a positive impact on farm incomes
and halt the trend towards converting agricultural land to other
uses.
Big opportunity
EU farm commissioner
Mariann Fischer Boel agreed that biofuels represented a big
opportunity, particularly for those adversely affected by sugar
reform. But she insisted that a balance would have to be found
between biofuel production and food production. It would,
therefore, be necessary to turn to imports. "The commission will
ensure that imports come from diverse sources and ensure
environmentally sustainable practices," she promised.
German farm leader Gerd Sonnleitner revealed that 13% of the
country's total cultivated area was already being used for
bioenergy. "Our farmers are now producing bioenergy and renewable
raw materials on 1.6m ha (4m acres), compared with just 0.8m ha (2m
acres) five years ago," he said. "An increase in the area to as
much as 3m ha (7.4m acres) is being forecast."
Mr Sonnleitner insisted that German farmers would continue to be
primarily food producers, "one reason being the natural limits
imposed by the principles of crop rotation". But he predicted the
country would have little difficulty achieving its target of having
12.5% of its electricity produced by renewable sources by 2010.
Bioenergy was already delivering E6.3bn (£4.3bn) in revenue and
had led to the creation of 65,000 jobs, he added. With fuel duty
now being levied on biodiesel, the industry was also starting to
pay back some of the start-up money made available through tax
exemptions.
"Boom"
"Bioenergy is experiencing a genuine boom and has evolved into
one of the largest growth sectors of the German renewable energy
market," said Mr Sonnleitner.
Agriculture minister Horst Seehofer gave his total support to
biofuel production in Germany, which could help agriculture "free
itself from the need for subsidies". "However, a clear set of rules
is needed to avoid overuse of soil by monocultures."
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