Farmers look to Government for guide on crops for energy
It's time the Government got down to defining the best way forward in providing an alternative to fossil fuels, said Simon White, Askeaton, in a recent Limerick IFA discussion of the fuel price spike.
He said the cost of fuel is becoming a crucial issue for farmers, and IFA too should be examining closely the opportunities for farmers to devote some of their land to growing crops for energy and fuel, now that it is becoming possible to produce oil from farm crops cheaper than imported supplies.
"Large areas of land could become available for growing alternative crops, under the Single Payment Scheme, and it is important that we examine the opportunities that may be available to farmers to productively use the land for providing energy", he told the monthly IFA meeting at Adare.
"The price of oil is going up all the time and adding to costs for farmers. If we can grow crops to provide energy then we should be considering it very seriously for the future", he added.
Con Curtin told the meeting that Ireland continues to lag behind other EU countries in forestry which can be used for heat and power, and is a renewable energy source. The scale of forestry in Germany is more than three times that of Ireland, which has continually failed to meet targets for planting, he said.
The meeting unanimously passed a resolution to the IFA National Council, proposed by Con Curtin and seconded by David Thompson, calling on the Council to make a request to the Government to prepare a clearly defined policy on the development of energy sources, as a matter of urgency.
