"Plants for power in place of nuclear power plants" - a look at the International Green Week

The International Green Week (IGW) kicked off yesterday in Berlin. The EU sponsored event, hosted by the German EU presidency, is Europe's largest food and agriculture exhibition.

The IGW opened within a new context, now that the European Union has set an ambitious goal to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels and given its farmers ample financial incentives to reach those goals. The new proposal sets a target of 20% for renewables in EU energy consumption by 2020, and 10% minimum target for biofuels in transport fuel by the same date. This objective is said to be feasible without creating unmanageable tensions between food and non-food production (earlier post).

At the opening of the event, some interesting announcements and perspectives on bioenergy were presented. Not in the least those on subsidies and financial incentives.

EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said: "This is an excellent opportunity for European agriculture to play a part in one of the greatest challenges facing the European Union today. Our CAP (Common Agriculture Policy) reforms have already given biofuel production a major push – now I want to build on this further."

The CAP was changed in 2003 to encourage European farmers to grow energy crops. It decoupled direct payments from production so farmers could base planting decisions more on market signals. The 2003 CAP reform introduced a €45 per hectare ($143 per acre) aid for land used for energy crop production, a measure that was extended recently to the new EU member-states (earlier post). Countries are also allowed to grant national aid of up to 50% of the costs of establishing permanent crops on areas on which an application for the energy crop aid has been made. In short, just like the US, the EU offers lavish amounts of subsidies to its future energy farmers.

According to Boel, getting 'up to speed in the production of bioenergy' could create up to 300,000 new jobs throughout Europe, many of which will be in rural districts.

On CAP reform, José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, said: "It is already encouraging farmers to grow energy crops by measures such as decoupling direct aid, the specific energy crops scheme and the possibility of using set-aside for the cultivation of non-food crops. Bioenergy could prove to be a strong card for the future of European farmers. It provides them with an opportunity to produce with an eye to the market."

And, interestingly, he added that "If for instance a German farmer can earn more today by selling the maize he produces for processing into bio-gas than for traditional feed production, we should see this as opening up fresh opportunities for a new generation of farmer-entrepreneurs."

Gerd Sonnleitner, President of the German Farmers' Association, says renewable energy now meets almost 7% of Germany's requirements for electricity, heating and fuel. The earlier target - 12.5% of the country's electricity needs from renewable sources by 2010 - has almost been reached. "Bio-energy is experiencing a genuine boom and has evolved into one of the largest growth sectors on the German renewable energy market," says Sonnleitner. "65,000 jobs have been created, and this figure is set to double by 2010:
ethanol :: biodiesel :: biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: subsidies :: Common Agricultural Policy :: EU ::



"Our farmers are now producing bio-energy and renewable raw materials on an area measuring some 4 million acres compared with just 2 million acres five years ago," says Sonnleitner. "This now amounts to 13% of the total cultivated area in Germany, making us the leaders in this field in Europe. An increase in the area under cultivation to as much as 7.5 million acres is being forecast.

A large part of the GreenWeek exhibit hall is dedicated to bioenergy under the title, "Plants for power in place of nuclear power plants."

A major congress organised by the German Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection convenes this weekend under the title "Agriculture and Bioenergy – the Lights will go out without Agriculture" [*pdf].