EU Renewable Energy Directive targets set to benefit the agriculture industry

The UK currently imports the majority of its high-protein animal feed requirements, making British farmers particularly susceptible to volatile overseas commodity markets.

The bio-refining of low-grade UK wheat to bioethanol provides a solution to this, as it produces a high-protein animal feed co-product (dry distillers grains with solubles), thereby reducing the need to import protein substitutes (such as soy) from more ecologically sensitive parts of the world.

At the same time, the European Union Renewable Energy Directive (RED), which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, creates a huge market for RTFs. Under the EU mandate, 10 per cent of the total road transport fuel pool must come from blended RTFs by 2020.

RTFs such as bioethanol are currently one of only a few commercially viable and technologically proven alternatives to fossil fuels that can realistically address unprecedented climate change.

Read the entire article at ftadvisor.com.