For a picture of Vince Cable in a hard hat and hi vis clothing, check out the Yorkshire Post. He was opening a £350 million bio-fuels plant in Humberside, one of the largest in Europe.
The plant converts animal quality wheat into bioethanol which is then added to petrol to produce a greener fuel. This is in an area which has been described as the ‘wheat belt’ of the UK.
Vince Cable is quoted as saying:
Here we are turning an agricultural product potentially into very good fuel, blending for motor vehicles, creating environmentally friendly products. So it’s good all round – economics, environment, jobs.
The plant will create 80 new jobs on site and generate up to 1000 more in the wider economy. Protein and fibre left over, after the wheat has been brewed and the ethanol extracted, will be supplied as animal fodder, contributing about one fifth of the amount needed to feed diary herds in the UK.
* Mary Reid is a contributing editor on Lib Dem Voice. She was a councillor in Kingston upon Thames, where she is still very active with the local party, and is the Hon President of Kingston Lib Dems.
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5 Comments
Shameful. This is what Oxfam have to say about biofuels:
“The ugly reality is that Europe’s thirst for biofuels is forcing poor farmers off their land and fuelling food price spikes, as repeatedly argued by development agencies such as the FAO, the World Bank and the World Food Programme”
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/media-centre/press-releases/2013/03/oxfam-reaction-to-report-on-impact-of-eu-biofuels-policy-on-food-and-land-rights
Biofuels made from foodstuff are not environmentally friendly – Vince was badly advised on this.
If you need advice to see what a stupid idea they are……………
“The plant converts animal quality wheat into bioethanol ”
Why is it using “animal quality wheat”?
Animal quality wheat is typically wheat that for does not satisfy the quality requirements for human consumption. I.e.
it is unsuitable for milling, because of damage by disease, insects, and frost, or poor growth. A farmer may plant an explicit feed crop because they can use lower cost seed and/or less chemicals and generally ‘pamper’ it less.
This article makes sobering reading: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/07/01/this-unsettling-chart-shows-were-not-growing-enough-food-to-feed-the-world/ as does the peer reviewed paper it refers to.
Any sector dependent upon government subsidies should be seen as a public service run for social means, rather than a new private sector market.