Demand for biofuel production and effect on oilseed rape production: Development of biofuel production within the UK has been slow compared with the rest of Europe, and it is of note that sales of biofuel in the UK amounted to just 0.53% in 2006. There have, however, been considerable recent increases in capacity for biodiesel and bioethanol production. The UK government's Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) will give further encouragement to the development of biofuels. If the entire UK RTFOfor diesel were to be met from rapeseed it would require around 3 million tonnes of rapeseed and 0.8 m ha of arable land. Current UK rapeseed production totals around 2.0 mt but much of this is already being utilised for human consumption. In practice, it is expected that a wide range of vegetable oils will be utilised for biodiesel production in the UK, with imports of oils such as palm and soya. However, even supplying a share of this additional demand will have consequences for production of the oilseed rape crop in the UK.
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