EU to Use 18 Pct Cereals Crops by 2020 for Biofuel

Europe should by 2020 divert around 18 percent of its cereals harvests, mostly maize and soft wheat, into making biofuel to meet targets for feedstock use in transport fuels, a European Commission report said on Tuesday.

In March, European Union leaders agreed to set a binding target for biofuels to make up at least 10 percent of petrol and diesel used by vehicles by 2020. “Under a 10 percent minimum obligation, about 59 million tonnes of cereals, or about 18 percent of domestic use, would be used as first — and including straw, also as second — generation feed stock,” the report said.
“Most of the cereals used would be soft wheat and maize, the rest would fall mainly on barley,” it said.

Projected yield increases of around one percent a year would raise current EU cereals output by 38 million tonnes by 2020. An extra two million hectares of set-aside land could also be sown to cereals, bringing in a further 14 million tonnes, it said.

Second generation biofuel production would account for around a third of the EU’s domestic biofuel production by 2020 largely by incorporating the straw and wood-based cellulosic material into production, the report said.

First generation biofuels usually come from food crops such as wheat, maize, sugar or vegetable oils. They require energy-intensive inputs like fertiliser, which make it difficult to cut the emissions of gases contributing to climate change.

Second generation biofuels would use non-food products, such as straw and waste lumber, be more energy efficient, require less land, offer more CO2 reduction and greater energy security. But so far, their production has been mostly experimental.

Planet Ark