Foreword
It’s been a wet couple of weeks
for us here in Yorkshire, with heavy rain devastating parts of Northern England
and the Midlands. Flooding and water-logged fields are preventing farmers from
undertaking their winter sowing, with some farmers indicating that they won’t
be able to get on their land for several months. This crisis serves to
highlight the importance of robust business strategies, and not just on a
national level as globally the agricultural industry regularly falls victim to
the weather. Resilience to such issues is needed especially when considering
climate change and the subsequent erratic weather we expect to see in the
future. A provisional estimate for wheat and barley production in the UK in
2019 is considerably higher than 2018 levels, leaving significant availability
for export, however, this trend is unlikely to continue in 2020 as significant
areas of wheat have not been planted due to the current wet weather. Feedstock
prices and availability are likely to feel the impact. With an expanding bioeconomy in Europe and increasing imports of
biological resources, global land-use requirements and availability
necessitates..........
Other News this Month Includes:
Policy
- Dutch waste import tax
- Cash to plant new trees in UK
Markets
- UK returns as net exporter of wheat
- Global cropland footprint of EU non-food
sector
Research & Development
- US to quantify sorghum sustainability
- EUBCE outcomes
- Supergen funding for bioenergy processing
pathways research
- Pyrolysis oil LCA study
- Forest researchers support biomass use for
energy
Wood & Crop
- Waste wood gasifier opens
- Lignin and ethanol fuel for shipping
- Rice residues put to use in the Philippines
- GoodChips' wood chip certification
- Sustainability advisory board for Drax
Other Feedstocks
- Lanzatech looks to materials market for its
flue gas ethanol
- Call to ban waste plastic export
- Plastic to hydrogen plans
Events
Feedstock Prices