Biofuels budget for farmers used for first time

摘要

The European Commission has unanimously backed a proposal to cut the area on which fanners can claim aid for energy crops in 2007, as the two million hectare "eligible area" has been exceeded.rnThe Commission's Management Committee for Direct Payments agreed the proposal last week. The aid was introduced in the 2003 reform of the Common Agricultural Policy to provide an incentive for farmers to increase production of biofuels and electric and thermal energy produced from biomass.