Energy use of plant-production activities

Here, we begin the analysis of the main plant-production activities, several of which are presented in detail in this chapter. The selection criteria are linked to total supply of the plant products, with the major part of crop supply being represented. The wide range of NUTS-II regions makes it necessary to set up a grouping of these regions in order to ob-tain results of greater visibility. Because supply quantity is an important criterion in partial-sector models, the supply is chosen as a grouping parameter. Consequently, taking the yield level into account by calculating the product-related energy use broadens the scope of interpretation of the results. In order to establish a link between site-specific energy use and overall EU production quantity, the production function is scaled to the energy use per kg of output [MJ/kg]. The relevant graphs for various crop types are shown in Figure 9.

Here, the most important crop-production activities have been selected to ensure clarity of the figure. For site-related analyses, the quantities and their associated production func-tions are subdivided into three groups differing in terms of their respective energy use (see Tab. 6):

First group (Favourable supply share): production quantity with the lowest energy use (0 to 25 per cent of the total quantity);

Second group (Average supply share): production quantity with an average energy use (26 to 75 per cent of the total quantity);

Third group (Unfavourable supply share): production quantity with a high energy use (76 to 100 per cent of the total quantity).

The remaining results of the energy-use calculations for plant products are presented synoptically in Tab. 6. The selection of activities in the table covers more than 80 per cent of total crop supply in the EU, thus illustrating a representative portion of production acti-vities.

A glance at the yield level (see Tab. 6) shows that energetically favourable sites for the most part have higher natural yields per hectare than energetically average and unfavou-rable sites. If the energy use per hectare of aunfavou-rable land is considered, a more differentia-ted picture emerges. For wheat, oats, oilseed rape, silage maize, sugar beet and potatoes, the most favourable sites are also those with the lowest energy use per unit area, but also with high natural yields, whilst for barley and rye, unfavourable sites use the least energy.

Fig. 9. EU production quantity of various crop types graded according to energy use (MJ/kg pro-duct). Source: own calcu-lations. Year: average of

2001–2003.

Tab. 6. Energy use and yield level for crop farming in the EU-25 Region: European

Union 25 Index / Unit Soft

wheat Barley Rye Oats Rape Silage

maize Potatoes Sugar beet Energy requirement,

product

Favourable sites* MJ/kg product 2.21 2.55 2.28 2.73 5.01 0.31 0.66 0.28

Average sites** MJ/kg product 3.00 3.35 3.42 3.96 5.89 0.43 1.47 0.40

Unfavourable sites*** MJ/kg product 4.64 4.80 4.67 5.26 7.07 0.92 3.70 0.91

Range

Favourable sites MJ/ha 16 843 14 126 11 304 11 017 14 928 13 949 27 937 17 307

Average sites MJ/ha 18 809 16 344 11 195 12 293 16 405 21 778 45 475 22 777

Unfavourable sites MJ/ha 19 276 13 947 10 870 14 159 18 000 24 535 61 309 41 457 Standard deviation

Favourable sites MJ/ha 1673 3227 2682 3329 3560 2811 5455 2864

Average sites MJ/ha 4760 4455 4830 3686 3733 6046 14 024 4767

Unfavourable sites MJ/ha 5450 3916 5755 3092 4121 21 118 26 292 26 992

Yield level

Favourable sites kg/ha 7628 5546 4952 4037 2982 44 954 42 216 61 534

Average sites kg/ha 6260 4874 3269 3104 2787 50 676 30 850 56 794

Unfavourable sites kg/ha 4150 2905 2328 2691 2546 26 650 16 571 45 672

*Contains the 25 per cent constituting the most favourable sites in terms of production quantity; **Contains the 50 per cent constituting the average sites in terms of production quantity; ***Contains the 25 per cent constituting the least favourable sites in terms of production quantity Source: own calculations. Year: average of 2001-2003.

Energy requirement in relation to production quantity

0

Total EU production quantity (%)

Soft wheat Oats Rye

The standard deviation of the EU’s area-related energy use suggests that, especially in the case of the average and the unfavourable regions, we are dealing with very heterogene-ous sites, for which the standard deviation in some cases lies markedly above 25 per cent of the mean. The reason for this is that in this group there are both extensive (as in Eastern Europe) and intensive sites. This can be illustrated using wheat as an example: for the EU-15 (European Union with EU-15 member states, i.e. not counting the new Central and Eastern European members) the energy use per hectare of the average sites stands at 20,181 MJ/

ha, and hence at around 1,372 MJ/ha above the comparable mean of the EU-25.

There are major differences between unfavourable and favourable regions in the EU-25. For grain production, the unfavourable sites require about twice as much energy to produce one kilogram of product – for oilseed rape, around one-and-a-half times as much.

For silage-maize and sugar-beet production, unfavourable regions require around three times as much energy as favourable regions; for potatoes, the figure is five times as much.

Figure 10 shows that for potatoes and oilseed rape, over 50 per cent of the production quantity is achieved with a similar energy use, whilst the final third of the production quan-tity is produced under unfavourable energy conditions. This is because crops such as sugar beet and potatoes are frequently cultivated on good sites. With cereals, which dominate the crop rotation mainly on average sites, we see that only a relatively small percentage of the production quantity (around 15–30 per cent) is produced in an energetically favoura-ble manner, whilst the remaining amount requires considerably more energy use. Common to all crop types is the fact that sites with an extremely high energy use constitute the least favourable 5 per cent of the production quantity. Included here among the least favoura-ble sites are also those for which the crop type in question occupies only a small area. The yields accounted for by EUROSTAT (1995) therefore contain a high degree of uncertainty.

Figure 10 lists the sites in question for selected crops. The geographical locations of the fa-vourable, average and unfavourable regions give some indication as to the possible causes of the sharp differences in energy use. Thus, the few regions producing wheat in an ener-getically advantageous manner are in Eastern Germany, Denmark, the North of France, and Southwest England. Average sites are largely to be found in a belt extending from Hun-gary across Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Western Germany and Belgium up to France, but also in England and Southern Scandinavia. Crops are produced under energetically unfa-vourable conditions in Southern Europe (Greece, Italy, Spain), as well as in Scandinavia, Poland and the Baltic. With rye, it is noticeable that the few favourable sites are to be found in Eastern Germany, France (Centre and Midi-Pyrénées) and Great Britain (Eastern). The average sites are to be found in Central and Eastern Europe, whilst the Baltic, parts of Scan-dinavia, Eastern Europe and individual regions of Spain, Italy and Greece number among the least favourable regions. For sugar beet, favourable sites are again to be found among the countries bordering the North Sea and in Eastern Germany, whilst an average energy-use level predominates in a strip extending from Hungary across the Czech Republic, Ger-many and the Benelux region all the way to Great Britain. An unfavourable energy-use level is to be found primarily in Southern and Eastern Europe.

The few favourable sites (wheat: 9, rye: 10, oilseed rape: 13) nevertheless account for 25 per cent of the production quantity. For this reason, we must be dealing with special-ised arable regions to be found in each case in the countries bordering the North Sea and in Eastern Germany. On the other hand, the 25 per cent of the production quantity with the highest energy use is produced in a large number of regions (wheat: 51, rye: 22, oilseed rape: 33). These sites, disadvantageous in energetic terms, are usually characterised by a low yield level and little arable farming. Moreover, these marginal-yield sites are scattered over the entire EU-25.

Wheat in the EU-25: favourable

sites Rye in the EU-25: favourable sites Sugar beet in the EU-25: favourable sites

Wheat: average sites Rye: average sites Sugar beet: average sites

Wheat: unfavourable sites Rye: average sites Sugar beet: unfavourable sites

Fig. 10. Typical arable

sites of the EU-25 broken down according to their energy-use levels²⁸. Source: own calculations.

Year: average of 2001–2003.

28 For a clearer graphical re presentation of the EU-25 results, only those regions having a minimum extent of arable farming and a minimum area for the crop type in question are included.

4.1.2 Plant-production energy-use spectrum using the example of wheat