Perspectives of Bioenergy for Agriculture and Rural Areas

Abstract

The production of biomass for renewable energy supply has found wide acceptance among farmers in Germany. This paper examines the potential benefits of bioenergy for agricultural operations. Reasons for the successful implementation of biomass production in agriculture involve economic factors, the forms of public incentive tools, a compatibility with farmers' cultural patterns, and psychological aspects. In Germany, there are signs of considerable positive effects on the creation of employment and investment in rural areas. Still, the authors argue for a differentiated view of small- and large-scale bioenergy plants, and hypothesize that the former lead to a more comprehensive creation of added value in agriculture and rural areas than the latter. Competition for land and biomass is increasing, both between the bioenergy industry and other land users and within the bioenergy industry itself, especially between centralized and decentralized plants and between biogas and liquid biofuel uses. Due to the emergence of bioenergy, increasing linkages of agriculture with other economic and policy fields can be observed, especially with the energy industry and policy, with forestry, and with biodiversity and landscape conservation.