Late last month Defra released its second set of experimental statistics covering the area of crops used in bioenergy production.

In the UK oilseed rape, sugar beet, wheat, miscanthus grass, trees in short rotation coppice (SRC) and straw are all used as fuel crops. Defra said data were collected from a range of sources to produce the crop area estimates, but pointed out that the process is still evolving and that results may be incomplete or somewhat limited.  

The data show that approximately 1.3 million tonnes of crops, grown on 109,000 hectares or 1.8 percent of UK arable land and planted in 2010, were grown for production of bioenergy during 2011. Wheat accounted for the most land use, at 75,000 hectares. Other crops used for bioenergy include oilseed rape grown on 8,000 ha, 9,000 ha of miscanthus grass and sugar beet grown on 14,000 ha.

Defra said it will release an update to the results in summer 2013, then continue with annual updates to provide a picture of the arable area used for producing energy crops. Opinion on bioenergy crops remains divided, as critics maintain they provide little or no environmental benefit and may lead to direct or indirect land-use change.

The biofuel produced from feed crops was largely used in UK road transport, mostly bioethanol produced from wheat. 40,000 tonnes of miscanthus, 15,000 of short rotation coppice and 200,000 tonnes of straw were also used in power station in England in 2010.