UK: Farms ‘to see energy crop takeover’

Up to a fifth of Britain’s farmland could be covered in “energy crops” by the year 2020, it has been claimed.

One plant in particular is likely to transform the landscape of rural Britain.
Miscanthus is a type of grass which can reach a height of more than nine feet. Harvested annually, it grows lush and green in the spring and summer, turning yellow in winter when its leaves are shed.

Future demand for biofuels could see more than a million hectares of miscanthus, together with willow for coppicing, being cultivated in the UK, taking over 15% to 20% of agricultural land.

The prediction was made by Dr Angela Karp, from the Rothamsted Research agricultural facility in Harpenden, Hertfordshire.

Speaking at the BA (British Association) Festival of Science, at York University, she said renewable energy targets set by the European Union would require an enormous expansion of energy crop cultivation.

Press Association