By David Evans
PARIS (Reuters) - European Commission plans for a compulsory biofuel target of 10 percent of all vehicle fuels by 2020 are set at a level that will not stop the bloc's farmers growing crops for food, a top EU official said on Tuesday.
"It's all about balance," Michael Mann, spokesman for EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel, told the Reuters Global Biofuels Summit.
"We have done our homework, we think the 10 percent target for biofuels is a realistic target that is achievable. We don't want to force farmers away from food production and replace food production with biofuels," he said.
Burgeoning demand for ethanol and biodiesel, made from crops such as sugar, maize and oilseeds has led to fears of increasing competition between the fuel and food sectors.
The European Commission unveiled its new targets last week as part of a broader package of measures designed to increase the proportion of renewable fuels in Europe's total energy mix.
"We think this as a good opportunity for farmers. In a world of increasing pressure for imports, any new outlet for our producers is a good thing," he said.
"Agriculture has to be kept diversified. We are very, very conscious of the need to have a certain level of food security in Europe," he said.
FOOD PRODUCTION NEEDS TO ADAPT
But the Commission is caught between the two camps.
The environmental lobby is quick to highlight what it sees as too little emphasis placed on renewable fuels and the food sector has accused the executive of disregarding its interests.
Mann said the globalization trend meant that food production in Europe was under pressure to adapt but that did not mean that food production in Europe was threatened.
"Obviously the world is getting smaller, there is more agricultural trade, we are a net importer of food already," he said. "Increasingly in the future we need to focus on high quality food and on finding new value-added markets."
"We can't really compete with the bulk low-cost commodity producers, like Brazil. So, the way we compete on the market for food will change, but that does not change the fact that we have to maintain a high level of food production."
However, the Commission has also introduced measures to boost domestic biofuel output at the same time.
A 45-euro per hectare "energy crop premium" available on all crops being sold for biofuels has been extended to all member states from this year, and the maximum area covered has been raised to two million hectares. Continued...
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