Plate – Tank: Without bioenergy we wouldn't have more, but less on our plate

There is one central argument in the debate on bioenergy vs. world food which many people are not aware of: Only a small part of the rape plant is actually used for the energy sector in the production of biodiesel: vegetable oil (approx. 40 %). The larger part constitutes the oil meal extracted (approx. 60 %), which is used as feed containing protein in animal nutrition for the production of milk, cheese, eggs and meat, and is therefore also available to the food market. Biodiesel is therefore not competing against safeguarding global nutrition, rather it has brought more amounts of feed into the food chain in Germany by expanding the cultivation areas for rapeseed due to the demand for biodiesel. As a consequence, this means: Without biodiesel production, we would have less on our plates, not more!

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