Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Methods
Production of on-farm renewable energy was studied in three European case study sites,
focusing on two specific types of renewable technologies: biogas production through
anaerobic digestion in the Czech Republic and Germany; and wind energy production in
the United Kingdom (specifically Scotland) (Fig. 9.1). The selection of two different
technologies for study reflected the geographical differences between the two regions; the
unsuitability of local conditions for maize production make anaerobic digestion much less
viable - and therefore less common - in Scotland than in Germany and the Czech Republic.
In all three regional study sites, farmers are the most numerous producers of renewable
energy using these technologies, although wind energy in the UK as a whole is
predominantly produced on large corporate and offshore wind farms.
Both wind and anaerobic digestion technologies produce electricity, although
anaerobic digestion also produces heat, bio-methane and processed manure, which can be
used as fertilizer. Anaerobic digestion produces biogas through a process of fermenting
manure or other residual materials, supplemented by selected crops (typically maize). Raw
biogas can be utilized in combined heat and power engines (CHP), or refined into bio-
methane fed into the natural gas grid as well as delivered to biogas fuel stations for
vehicles. Both technologies have also experienced considerable price supports in the 2000s,
leading to exponential increases in uptake. Analysis of these complex processes can thus
inform understanding of transition processes.
Data was collected in each country by reviewing regional and national agriculture and
energy policy documents, and through interviews with representatives of regional and
national governments, the farming industry, landowner groups, lending institutions,
regional chambers of commerce, energy consultancies, national parks and young farmers.
The focus of the research was on understanding how and why these technologies have
become increasingly used on farms in recent years, and the implications for the agricultural
industry.
The study sites for this research were the Vysočina region in the Czech Republic, the
Wendland-Elbetal region in Germany and the Aberdeenshire region in Scotland. These
regions cover areas of 6,795 km
2
, 2,020 km
2
and 6,313 km
2
respectively (Fig. 9.1).
Agriculture is the primary land use in all three regions, and a major component of their
regional economies. Farms in all three regions have mixed structures. In the Wendland-
Elbetal region, these are polarized between small-scale farming to the west of the Elbe river
and large-scale (500 to 2,000 ha) to the east, a legacy of the former German Democratic
Republic's collectivized system. The average farm size in the region is 100 ha, with 60%
having less than 75 ha (Bioenergieregion Wendland-Elbetal, 2012). In Aberdeenshire, land
is held through a mix of owner occupancy, formal tenancies (long-term rental agreements),
contract farming and short-term rental. The majority of agricultural land is held in holdings
of more than 200 ha, leading to an estimated average (active) farm business size of 180 ha
(Aberdeenshire Council, 2009). In the Vysočina region, the majority of land owners are
small-scale (46% are less than 5 ha), with 23% in the 10 to 49.9 ha category. There are over
400 'large' land owners, with more than 100 ha. Most of the land on these farms is rented,
owing to land redistribution in the 1990s. In all three sites, renewable energy is most likely
to be produced on larger farms, although generation can occur across a range of farm sizes.
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