The reasons are many: The markets are probably not in place The processing is not in place Farmers have the equipment and knowledge to grow and harvest corn, wheat soya etc. They will not commit their large farms to a crop which they do not know how to grow, harvest and sell. The claims for yields are probably based on research with trial plots and the yields from growing them in real conditions with pests and diseases that will get bigger as the crops get bigger are much lower.
I'll take the example of hemp grown in the UK - it is a wonder crop, amazing yield, needs little fertiliser and chemicals as it grows so fast. Amazing tough fibre, seed can be used for biodiesel etc. But how much is grown. Around 2500 ha. even with a subsidy of around £500/ha. Why - because it is a bastard to harvest and the yields are much lower than the researchers quote, and hence the returns are lower. There is a small demand for it but a UK company has been working very hard for years to promote the crop, and their main market was/is the hurds used for horse bedding. What are chokeberries. Is it April 1st. Rob -----Original Message----- From: Tricia Liu [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 19 February 2003 11:58 To: biofuel@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [biofuel] good oil crops for England Mr.Hartman posted a long message not long ago, voicing for the American Farmers. The income is lower and the cost is growing higher....... And then there are discussion about these higher yield products, so why don't the farmers grow the better yield crops? African Oil plants or the chokecherries? Climate or weather limitation? Cost too high? (I may retire earlier to start my own farm, if these are the star crops for the future!) So why don't you? The growing demand of BioFuel and the corns and Soy beans are not the best sources for biofuel? Seem to be a simple solution but did I miss anything? Instead of asking for the government to keep on funding, maybe if the farmers switching to the higher yield crops. Then we will see some Farmer Tycoons over those oil Tycoons? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Neoteric Biofuels Inc" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <biofuel@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Tuesday, February 18, 2003 8:55 AM Subject: Re: [biofuel] good oil crops for England > They do. More oil per acre than African oil palms, apparently, and a > LOT of pulp for ethanol - and they smell nice too? Bonus. The bees > prolly love 'em. > > Edward Beggs > http://www.biofuels.ca > > > On Tuesday, February 18, 2003, at 08:14 AM, kirk wrote: > > > I don't think of chokecherries as bearing much. > > The blossoms are one of the lovliest scents in the world. > > Truly exquisite. > > > > Kirk > > > > > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Biofuels list archives: > http://archive.nnytech.net/ > > Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. > To unsubscribe, send an email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
