La biomasse, activité alternative au développement des zones rurales

b) Nonfood cultures

The biomass remains the principal source of renewable energy. Wood resulting from the forests constitutes the oldest bio-fuel and most widespread. But the agricultural sector provides an increasing share of the biomass used to energy ends. Indeed, of the woody cultures^27(*) are gradually established on grounds of agricultural origin, in particular within the framework of devices introduced at the time of the reform of 1992, the such support for the timbering of the arable lands and the freezing of the grounds. Indeed, a farmer has the right to cultivate not-food seedlings on the fallow lands.

The nonfood cultures are practiced of long date within the framework of Community agriculture. Traditionally, the production was very often limited to textile fibers (flax, cotton and hemp), with the starch for various industrial uses, vegetable oils, the chemicals or medicinal and the medicinal plants. Many other nonfood uses meanwhile were developed or are being studied currently.

The flax is traditionally used for many uses and by its natural qualities and its exceptional performances, it is component important of a great number of current products. It makes the floor coverings or others more respectful of the environment, the more resistant concrete and the products containing more solid fibers. The flax is also largely employed for the manufacture of fine paper, compound products and oil in cosmetic industry.

The corn is also used more and more frequently in industry, including at ends other than bioenergetic. The corn raids are of great interest for various industrial processes, such as the treatment of surfaces as well as the heat insulation and phonic. The corn ears can also be used in the industry of conditioning for the carriage of fragile goods.

The manufacturers turn today worms of new products containing linseed oil, used in paintings and like adhesive agent in the ordinary fiberboards. These components containing linseed oil replace certain solvents and petrochemical derivatives in the product formulation and thus contribute to the control of pollution atmospheric. The linoleum, plastic floor covering more resistant, is presented in the form of a product attracting at the paddle of XXIe century. Containing approximately linseed oil 30%, it is biodegradable and entirely breaks up when it is put at the reject.

The bioénergie is the sector which, currently, arouses the greatest interest; apart from direct combustion, it represents however only one marginal share in the pallet of fuels. The production costs of bio-fuels remain very high compared to fossile fuels and are not competitive under the current conditions, insofar as their environmental advantages compared to traditional fuels are not reflected in the prices. In its White Paper on the renewable sources of energy, the Commission indicates that « the bio-fuels present an overall positive energy balance, although this one varies from one culture to another and also depends on the culture which was replaced «^28(*).

The reform of the CAP encouraged the use of agricultural surfaces for the practice of nonfood cultures. The cold grounds quickly became one of the principal suppliers of surfaces devoted to the nonfood cultures within the Community (17% in 1993/94 for the UE-12 and even 44% in 1995/96 for the UE-15). Recent estimates reveal a stabilization at 20%. Colza accounts for approximately 80% of the surface of the nonfood cultures profiting from the mode of freezing of the grounds. It is about a key energy culture, used primarily for the production of Diester (bio-diesel) (Appendix 14).

With an equal share, before 1993/94, to approximately 30% of the whole of the surface devoted to the nonfood cultures, to seven times the surface reserved for the production of flax fibers is five, cotton traditionally was the principal nonfood culture. It is cultivated in Greece (more than 400.000 ha in 1995), in Spain (35 000 ha in 1995 and 65.000 in 1990) and, to a lesser extent, in Italy. In 1993/94 (UE-12), cotton was the first nonfood culture, but since 1994/95 (UE-15), nonfood colza supplanted during three following campaigns. From marketing year 1997/98, cotton occupies the first place again. The surface devoted to nonfood colza is directly related to the rate of freezing of the grounds, decreasing at the same time as this last.

The flax fiber is another traditional nonfood culture, practiced mainly in France, Belgium and in the Netherlands. Since 1994/95, the acreage in flax increases, on average, of almost 20% per annum for the UE-15, which represents one of the highest rates of increase among the nonfood cultures. Contrary to linseeds used for the production of oil, fiber flax is not likely to profit from the mode of freezing of the grounds for the production of nonfood cultures.

The flax intended for the production of oil is the nonfood culture whose acreage progresses most quickly. Thanks to the progress made so much in the techniques of harvest than in the techniques of transformation, the production increased, on average, of almost 40% during five last years.

Among the not-food cultures on the fallow lands, the oilseeds occupy the largest surface, for the development of the bio-diesel. The bio-fuels are exposed to the competition of the fuels of fossil origin, and their development depends on the application of adapted tax instruments, within the framework of the energy and/or environmental policy

* ²⁷ Definition of the illustrated Petit Robert, woody cultures «  are the cultures which come from wood  », p 840

* ²⁸ COM (97) 599 final of the 26.11.1997, «  Energy for the future  : renewable sources of energy  »- White Paper establishing a strategy and a Community action plan, European Commission, p7