Oilseed rape’s place in New Zealand crop rotations appears to have been underpinned by Parliament’s passing of the Biofuel Bill earlier this month.

Biodiesel New Zealand (BDNZ) says it plans to grow between 18,000 and 30,000ha of the crop in a venture which parent company Solid Energy, a state-owned enterprise founded on the bill’s passing.

Solid Energy’s general manager of renewable energy Andy Matheson says he is very pleased the bill has passed and that it will support the local industry. ‘It certainly supports and helps. But if the bill hadn’t been passed we would still be going down this track.’

Energy minister David Parker says the bill, which makes 0.5% biofuel in all fuels at point of sale obligatory from this year, rising to 2.5% by 2012, is an important step in moving New Zealand away from dependence on imported fossil fuels.

‘This legislation allows for an increasing proportion of New Zealand’s transport fuel to be produced locally, from by-products of the dairy or beef industry, and in the future from wood and grasses grown on marginal land, or from algae from sewage ponds.’

Biofuels will start to free New Zealand from the ‘tyranny’ of the international oil market, he says, and may even reduce the cost of fuel to consumers.

‘Gull Petroleum is already selling biofuels at less than the cost of a similar non-biofuel product.’

The bill contains sustainability principles which make sure biofuels sold under the inclusion obligations emit significantly less greenhouse gas over their life cycle than fossil fuels; avoid negative impacts on food production; and do not reduce indigenous biodiversity or adversely affect land with high conservation values.

BDNZ’s venture has not been without its detractors, notably the brassica seed industry which fears cross-contamination will jeopardise exports, and some cropping farmers who have been upset by its decision to lease what they see as marginal land for cropping, rather than pay a higher price to contract more growers on better soils.

Some have gone so far as to suggest Solid Energy has effectively become a second state-owned farming company in light of the thousands of hectares leased, and production of crops other than oilseed rape.

Matheson defends the lease approach, even though he acknowledges some of this year’s crops are less than perfect.

‘We chose to go down the lease path because it represents a more cost-effective way of achieving our objectives.’