PROSPECTS IN OIL PLANT CROPPING FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF GERMAN AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY - PREREQUISITES AND ACQUIREMENTS

The cultivation of oil crops has a longstanding tradition and has so far been concentrated on the production of vegetable oils for human nutrition. Winter rape plays the dominant role in oil plant cropping here. In addition to its applications in the food sector, rapeseed oil as a renewable raw material also has other potential uses. The utilization of rapeseed oil as a raw material in the chemical industry results in high demands being made of rape breeding and its implementation. The pressure caused by the dramatic surplus production in the EC has resulted in the development of greater efforts to utilize the plants in the industrial sector. As a lubricant, rapeseed oil can already hold its own on a commercial basis. The situation in the fuel sector is different. The production of rape methyl ester, the diesel substitute, is still more expensive than diesel fuel itself. For the use of rapeseed oil as a basic material for tenside production, for solvents and additives in the paint industry and as a basic material for the production of plastics additives, the content of a fatty acid must be raised to above 85%. This would represent a great step in the direction of providing tailor-made, industrially-oriented vegetable oils. Breeding efforts must be intensified in this respect, but no short-term results are to be expected here. The prospects for vegetable raw materials on the basis of a price comparison with fossil raw materials are positive, however, if for instance a regulation specifying the admixture of rape fuel oil and rape diesel, a regulation specifying the use of hydraulic oil and rape lubricants were to be introduced and the environment-policy advantages of this were to be evaluated. As environment awareness increases, the discussion concerning the burdens placed on the atmosphere becomes more intense. The main subject in this connection is the CO2 regime in the air. The endeavours to return to closed circuits in energy policy are very much in line with the use of renewable raw materials. Since the problems of oil plant cultivation are of such great economic and social-policy importance, they necessitate vigorous political action at national and EC level.