Fuel from fields

Agriculture, in the face of declining fossil fuel reserves, is becoming a major source of energy, writes Seán Mac Connell, Agriculture Correspondent

Agriculture is no longer simply about feeding humans and animals. It has taken on a role in the area of fuel, while at the same time getting closer to the world of science. It's an exciting time for farming but one that raises several debates.

Managing Irish research activities in this area is Prof Gerry Boyle. The Tipperary-born economist has taken on the responsibility of managing and developing Teagasc's research, advisory and training activities, which employ more than 1,500 people.

His appointment as director of Teagasc last year coincided with enormous changes in agriculture. Most notable have been the impact of biofuels and the continued debate over genetically modified (GM) foods.

"What has changed is the emergence of the bio-economy; agriculture, in the face of declining fossil fuel reserves, is becoming a major provider of energy," he says. "If you look at all the products provided by the petroleum industry and within the pharmaceutical sector synthetically, more and more we are looking towards bio-based production.

"Agriculture is being regarded as a place for substituting or replacing what the fossil fuel industry traditionally supplied. That will be a long-term agenda. Nevertheless, something very significant is taking place within the agriculture sector globally and obviously Ireland will be swept up in that."

Extraordinary things are happening in the cereals sector and cereal prices are the bedrock of agriculture, according to Boyle. These high prices are feeding into other sectors, such as dairy. "The production of ethanol is a very expensive process and is unlikely to be successful in Europe without heavy subsidies from either governments or consumers."

Boyle claims that what all scientists and technologists are talking about now are the second- and third-generation technologies. "These are basically attempts to turn waste into alcohol and converting woody materials into fuel. That is the holy grail," he says.

Many companies around the world are actively investigating these possibilities. "However, we seem to be some way off that yet and we in Teagasc are currently focusing on the production side of energy crops, which have the advantage that they are not produced for food, so there is no conflict. But allied to that, we have been investing substantially and enhancing our capabilities in the biosciences. It is really in the area of bioscience and biotechnology that the new generation of technologies will come," he says.

"We in Ireland at least have the capacity to keep up to date with what is happening internationally, so when the opportunities emerge to produce ethanol economically from waste and woody substances, to be able to move on that. A lot of the economics will depend on the production of the energy yields of crops. The processing costs are equally important."

He adds: "We will be hoping in the future to develop some capacity to pilot test some technologies that industries will be promoting, a facility we have already in the dairy sector."

Another major issue is the industry's interaction with science. Perhaps the most high-profile debate in this area has been over the use of GM products.

On GM production, Boyle says Europe will face increasing competition because of its non-adoption of that technology.

"The technology is being widely used in many countries by our competitors. Some of their products produced using this technology are already coming into this country. Two maize by-products - corn gluten and distillers grain - are vital ingredients in animal feed and account for up to 30 per cent of feed rations for beef cattle and dairy cows. A total of 800,000 tonnes of these maize by-products are imported from the US every year by animal feed companies."

He adds: "EU policy decisions could effectively eliminate access to these imports. As supplies of GM-free maize by-products are not available elsewhere, the Irish feed industry could be forced to source 800,000 tonnes of replacement products at an additional cost of up to €40 million."

Boyle claims the situation with protein feed is even more serious and most of the world's soya bean produce is now of the GM type. "Sooner of later we are going to have to face up to such issues about the utilisation of what, on the face of it, appears to be a very effective technology and, I would suggest, is a safe technology."

Boyle says the debate in Europe on GM food has been very polarised and there is a need for a full and balanced debate. He says the days are gone when people were happy to accept the "ex cathedra" pronouncements of scientists without comment. Scientists, he believes, have to stand back and try to understand why people take such polarised positions in relation to the adoption of such technologies.

"We need to promote a rational debate. Certainly science can help in allaying fears, particularly publicly-funded science, and that is a role that we see for Teagasc. Hopefully, in time, the accumulation of what is perceived to be the impartial scientific evidence around the particular issues of food safety will persuade the majority of people of the value of these technologies."

Boyle says the use of new technologies in Irish farm production has produced tillage and dairy farmers who are among the best in the world. He adds that technology transferral occupies a great deal of attention at Teagasc. The development of scientific capacity at home by creating new technologies, by amending international ones to Irish conditions and by having scientists with international contacts to keep abreast of what is happening is vital, he says.

The dissemination of technological information to the agricultural industry is more difficult, but this is being addressed by the advisory sector. Boyle says the main role of Teagasc is to remain relevant to the sector and transmit useable knowledge for the benefit of its stakeholders.

"Teagasc is all about transferring the research findings and knowledge generated by the Oak Park Crops Research Centre [the national centre for arable crop research] out on to the farms to improve competitiveness. It is not sufficient to generate knowledge and leave it on the shelf."