Jury still out on biofuel crops
Tillage farmers are likely to go with tried and tested crops, rather than new ideas, when their waterlogged fields dry up, and fast decisions and round-the-clock work are needed to get crops in.
Ironically, the huge success of bioenergy in the US will slow the arrival of similar ideas in latecomers like Ireland.
After about 13 formative years, the ethanol-from-maize industry is surging past the one billion gallons of fuel mark in the US. Maize prizes have doubled, and this trend has lifted prices around the world for the grains commonly grown in Ireland, mostly for livestock feed. According to the Irish Seed Trade Association, there is great enthusiasm among tillage farmers due to the stronger cereal prices. They are likely to choose familiar grain crops which are newly profitable. Instead of an explosion of biofuel crop acreage, companies looking for rapeseed (one of our more successful biofuel crops) will probably have to work even harder this year, and offer higher prices, to attract growers.
Communications, Marine and Natural Resources Minister Noel Dempsey’s strategy seems to be to set ambitious bioenergy targets, and leave it up to the renewable energy sector to respond. It will be a huge undertaking to put renewable sources in place to generate one third of our electricity, heat 12% of residential and commercial premises, and replace 5.75% of petrol and diesel. These are Mr Dempsey’s targets and he points to great advances in Irish wind power, now generating more than 1,000MW as the way to go. The Greener Homes grant scheme for woodchip burners or solar panels has also been a great success.
But there are symptoms that all is not well in Irish bio-energy. Irish companies like Airtricity, Bioverda and Open-Hydro are being forced to invest in projects abroad, instead of providing jobs and energy security for Ireland. Bioverda says it is difficult to justify investing in renewable energy projects in Ireland, when they are better supported elsewhere in the EU and in the US. The Green Party alleges the ESB is more interested in importing French nuclear-generated electricity than relying on Irish suppliers. They see no evidence that the ESB or energy authorities want power from crops, and no sign of ‘smart metering’ to feed electricity from farm waste, photovoltaic cells, biomass or wind turbines into the national grid.
There was good news from the minister on using meat and bone meal and other organic wastes to generate electricity. It could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 273,000 tonnes a year and end the €50 million-a-year cost of exporting meat and bone meal. The minister also announced financial incentives.
It sounds like overkill, but it still might not overturn strong opposition from the public, when the process goes to planning and environmental impact assessment.
IFA sources said Mr Dempsey hasn’t addressed the issue of stimulating supply and processing of raw material for bio-energy. Farmers point to the German example of paying nearly three times more for green energy than in Ireland.
Maybe things will change later in the year. But anyone hoping for biofuel to take off in this spring’s planting season shouldn’t hold their breath.
