Steps are being taken to help British growers fend off the threat of competition from imported biofuels, a government adviser has revealed.

World trade rules prevented the government from protecting growers from imports, said Rupert Furness, policy adviser at the Department for Transport. But UK farmers “might have a better story to tell” than overseas producers, he suggested.

“Ministers have made it clear that they would like to see UK farmers supplying biofuels into the UK processing industry to give us the biofuels that we need,” Mr Furness told a recent workshop at the East of England Showground.

Sales are expected to soar due to the government’s Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation, which requires that biofuels must account for 5% of all road transport fuel by 2010. But the policy has triggered fears that imports could flood the market.

Compromise

Mr Furness said: “We are fairly clear that legally we are not allowed to ban imports of unsustainable biofuels from third countries. As a compromise, therefore, the obligation is going to include a mandatory reporting requirement.”

Companies would be required to disclose the carbon savings made by their biofuels – including during the production process. This would favour low-input crops using fewer inputs over intensive crops requiring high amounts of fossil-based fertiliser.

“There are a huge range of assurance schemes out there and we are not trying to reinvent the wheel,” said Mr Furness. “If you are already meeting various assurance schemes that exist in the UK, it should just allow a box to be ticked.”

Details of the scheme are expected to be finalised by the end of the year. The government hopes to publish draft legislation for consultation by early 2007, so it can be in place by the time the obligation begins on 1 April 2008.

Alastair Dickie, crop marketing director at the Home-Grown Cereals Authority, said forward-looking growers planning to supply the biofuels market should look now at the amount of artificial fertilisers they use and reduce it where possible.

“Over time and as we move forward, growers will be asked to provide carbon accounts – in the same way that today we have financial accounts – to make sure their crops are more carbon efficient.”