A field of oilseed rape, used for biofuel and cooking oil, is a striking sight, although there is still a lot of debate about its benefits. How much longer will we be known as the Emerald Isle if yellow fields replace traditional crops, asks Seán MacConnell, Agriculture Correspondent
The face of Ireland is changing as fast as concrete hardens, with new roads and buildings springing up everywhere. Other changes are transforming the appearance of our countryside - down on the farms exotic new crops are being sown, mostly for biofuel. This year, for instance, the yellow fields of oilseed rape have come into flower long before the white and blackthorn hedgerows have shown their colours. And this is not just an Irish phenomenon - all over western Europe you can see this vibrant yellow. While crops have gone in and out of fashion for agricultural and economic reasons, never has the transition been so apparent to the general public. The amount of oilseed rape being grown by farmers in the UK has already sparked alarm in some circles.
Joanna Blythman points out in a recent Guardian article that it is now the third-largest arable crop in Britain, accounting for 11 per cent of crops growing there, and environmentalists worry that it will upset the balance of nature. Controlling the pests and diseases that the crop suffers requires a significant amount of chemicals, and there is widespread concern about the impact that might have on the environment. Furthermore, there have been accusations that oilseed rape is greedy for nutrients, notoriously dependent on nitrogen-rich fertilisers, leaches nitrates into the waterways and pollutes aquifers.
Farmers in the UK, however, are undeterred by the criticisms, this year setting a production target of two million tonnes of oilseed rape. There have been major tax breaks in Britain for producing biofuel and what is not used in Britain is being snapped up by the German market. The oil was once used for a variety of less fashionable products, such as margarine, cattle feed, candles, soaps, plastics and polymers, but the booming demand for biofuel has replaced these.
Jim O'Mahony, the tillage and renewable energy programme manager at Teagasc, believes the crop is getting unfair treatment.
"It is a wonderful, versatile plant, and it is very useful as a break crop in the rotation cycle for growing cereals," he says. "It is an exaggeration to say that it is nitrogen hungry, even though it requires quite a lot of nitrogen to grow it. But the allegation that it is notorious for leaching nitrates into groundwater is not the case here because we plant wheat immediately after the crop is harvested and it picks up any surplus nitrogen."
O'Mahony does not see a day when Irish people will be writing letters to The Irish Times complaining about oilseed rape taking over the countryside. "Here in Ireland we grow 6,000 hectares of winter oilseed rape and about 2,000 hectares of spring oilseed rape," he says. "You have to compare that with 300,000 hectares of other cereals to see just how small it is as a crop."
He admits that its high visibility in the fields has given a misleading impression of its pervasiveness, disproportionate to the amount grown.
Someone who may be writing to the newspapers, however, is Anja Murray of the Irish Wildlife Trust. "The drive for biofuels and the introduction of crops such as oilseed rape have been giving environmentalists cause for concern," she says. "There is a major change in land use happening before our eyes and it is happening very rapidly without any information on the impact it is likely to have on wildlife and water. There is a biodiversity issue here and while it is possible that some of the new crops that are now being grown, such as elephant grass and willow, may even be good for the environment, we need more information," she says.
"It takes wildlife a long time to adjust to changes like we are seeing and we can change things very quickly," says Murray, who works with An Taisce as an environmental officer. "There is also the nagging doubt about the seed and whether or not GM oilseed rape could arrive here from abroad, but that is for another day. We have asked the Government to carry out research into the impact these crops are having on the environment and I think there is an urgency about getting that."
Louth-based Raymond O'Malley is an expert on the subject of rapeseed oil and is involved with a company, Biogreen Energy, in producing oil for use in modified diesel engines.
"You will never see a situation here where the crop will take over the countryside because only 10 per cent of Ireland is arable and the crop can only be grown on a four-year rotation," he says. "However, there is lots of room for expansion here and I could see the Irish crop doubling in size over the next few years."
He is not convinced the Government is committed to providing a proper alternative energy scheme from crops and he believes this will retard the expansion of the oilseed rape crop.
His company, based in Wexford, is currently processing five million litres of oil annually, most of which is used in modified diesel engines and the rest as specialist oils. Because the crop is now profitable for farmers to grow, his company has no difficulty in finding growers, especially since the ending of the sugar beet industry here.
But Jim O'Mahony is convinced that the future for the oilseed rape crop is not in energy. "We can extract specialised fatty acids for use in health food and I think that is where the future of the crop lies," he says. "There is also a demand for specialist oil for industry made from the oilseed and there will be some demand for it as cooking oil."
One Irish company is already selling rapeseed oil as virgin cooking oil, but it is understood the oil being used is imported. Raymond O'Malley says his company had looked at the possibility of cold-pressing the oil for cooking but as the market for it was so small and the health regulations so stringent, it would not have been profitable to do so."On the basis of the size of the market here and the amount of investment required, the sums did not add up," he says.
Jim O'Mahony said he understood the concerns people might have about new crops coming into the country and the visual impact they may have on the landscape. "The two main runners in the bio-energy area after oilseed are elephant grass and willow. Willow is a native plant and should cause no problems. On the other hand, miscanthus [elephant grass] is not, and grows very high compared with other plants here. However, it is harvested annually so it will not be a permanent feature on the Irish landscape."
It is testimony to the altered role of agriculture in Irish society that we only take notice of major changes when the countryside is transformed as dramatically as our towns and cities. In terms of our fields, at least, the future is growing yellow.
TOP OF THE CROPS?
Elephant grassIrish eyes had better get used to looking at elephant grass (Miscanthus giganteus) because it is the energy crop which has attracted most attention in the farming community after oilseed rape. Elephant grass can grow to 15ft in height. When harvested it is dried and made into pellets for use in special burners or to be burned in large biomass burners. Best estimates suggest there are more than 500 hectares, or nearly 1,200 acres of the crop already growing here.
WillowGrowing willow is a highly specialised operation and requires purpose-built machinery. Two well developed units are already in operation in Co Donegal and Co Waterford. The number of applications for energy grants to grow willow has been very low. Its future will be linked with the disposal of sludge from waste plants because it has an amazing capacity to absorb and filter such materials. The by-product will be biomass for burning for energy.
HempHemp has been successfully grown here on an experimental basis by Teagasc, which found it was a very suitable crop for Irish conditions. A special strain of the cannabis crop is used and the plant has 25,000 legal uses according to its supporters, from the production of fabrics and paper to insulation and oil extract. It is, however, unlikely to become a regular sight on the Irish landscape.
LinseedThere was a major interest in linseed production here some years ago when it was the most heavily subsidised crop in the EU. Up to 400 hectares were grown at one stage, but a change in the subsidy system led to a loss of interest. It has wide application in industry and of course is essential in the proper maintenance of cricket bats, so there might be an increase in demand following our recent World Cup success. Seán MacConnell
UK HEALTH CONCERNS
What of those people who are adamant that exposure to oilseed rape triggers breathing difficulties, streaming eyes and hayfever symptoms? Every year the [UK] Department of Health receives complaints about eye and upper respiratory tract irritation in people who live near fields, possibly due to an allergy to pollen, direct irritation caused by the volatile organic compounds emitted by the plants, or airborne mould spores. Some doctors have suggested that oilseed rape may sensitise people to pollen or cross-react with grass pollen to cause problems. No other British crop exposes people to such an overpowering presence of pollen.
The oilseed rape industry hotly contests the claim that the crop could act in combination with grass pollen. According to United Oilseeds, the crop stops flowering before grass pollen is released. The British Medical Journal has reported there is no clear evidence that oilseed rape has adverse effects on health, although it has also recommended that further studies seem justified. The journal suggested that Britain has taken a dislike to oilseed rape because of its intense smell and flashy yellow flowers.
Apparently, in other European countries with much greater acreage of oilseed rape, there is no such public concern.
Extract from "Seeds of discontent" by Joanna Blythman - Guardian Service