AGREE 4th Project Newsletter 1

Energy Efficiency in Agriculture

The AGREE project has centered energy efficiency as its primary indicator while using the following definition: energy efficiency improvements refer to a reduction in the energy used for a given service (heating, cooling, lighting, etc.) or level of activity. The reduction in the energy consumption is associated with technological changes, better organization and management or improved economic conditions in the sector (World Energy Council). This definition implies that energy use is allied with the corresponding agro-production level. Thus, improving energy use efficiency might imply an increase of energy use when production level is stimulated to a higher extent. Or, that decreasing energy use could result in worse energy efficiency if production level would be decreased even further as a result. In the past, increasing agricultural production has coincided with an increase of energy use. Koning et al. (2007) showed this in their study on the evolution of agro-production systems when trying to assess the long-term global food availability. In history, agricultural production systems evolution required an input increase to convert more of the solar energy into food and feed. Mechanization and the use of mineral fertilizers and pesticides are examples of innovation that have increased the complexity of agro-production systems and at the same time have used more energy. With the need to increase food production in view of an increasing world population and the need for better quality food and a higher share of animal products, it is expected that energy use in agriculture will rise. The question is whether this will be true for European agriculture. Yet, increasing productivity will be important from the viewpoint of competitiveness. Therefore, the challenge is to combine increased productivity with improved energy efficiency, which could well imply a trend change in the evolution of energy use in agriculture. This will not only require large improvements in existing agro-production systems, but could also ask for new designs and innovations that answer to this trend change need.

SP1 – Cooperation

Sub-Programme: Coordination and Support Action

Action: Coordination (or networking) Actions

AGREE Reference

FP7-KBBE-2011-5-289139

Energy Efficiency in Agriculture ...1 Activities Undertaken ...2 Deliverables …4 Geography of Consortium …4 Partner Names & E-mails ...4

Legal beneficiary: Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e.V.

August 2013, 4th Project Newsletter

Agriculture and Energy Efficiency - AGREE

AGREE 4th Project Newsletter 2

1

Activities Undertaken

WP1. Management and coordination The need for one month project extension was discussed. All partners were informed that the

Commission had asked for an official letter and supporting arguments.

The final dissemination event will be held on the 17th of September in a conference room of a Hotel to be announced and the project meeting at the Leibniz Gemeinschaft on the 18th of September, in Brussels.

Among the possible participants to be invited for the final dissemination event are: ENGAGE and SCAR members, DG Research and KBBE officials, EAB members, stakeholders, National funding agencies, Joint Project Initiatives, scientific coordinators of European projects on energy and possibly regional representations in Brussels.

A short introduction to ERA-NETs was presented by the project coordinator Claudia Lutsyuk.

A Project Meeting was held in the University of Evora, Portugal last 23 and 24 April. The meeting was organized to discuss central outcomes and results of the project in WP3 and WP4 and to define the contents for the stakeholder transnational meeting in Athens which took place in June 4. Additionally a conference on Energy Efficiency was organised. The invited speakers were the AGREE Scientific Coordinator, Chris de Visser, from Wageningen University, who talked about the AGREE Project – Agriculture Energy Efficiency and José Rafael Marques da Silva, from University of Évora, who presented a conference dealing with the Challenges of Environmental and Economic Sustainability of Vineyards. Approximately 40 people assisted and after the conferences there was a participated and interesting period of questions and comments.

WP3 Economics and environment

The AGREE consortium has compiled a comprehensive report on case studies on energy efficiency measures in agriculture from six countries across the EU. The report shows very different approaches to achieve energy efficiency in agriculture in arable and permanent crop production systems as well as animal husbandry systems. The report illustrates the energy saving potentials of the measures and economic and environmental impacts, which show co-benefits and potential constraints of implementation. Based on the results from the report on the case studies priorities on energy efficiency measures were summarized in a special report, which will be published on the AGREE website soon. The report includes opportunities, constraints of and research needs for energy efficiency measures in agriculture and shall help to develop strategies for a research agenda on energy efficiency in Europe.

WP4. Agenda for transnational collaboration

Together with stakeholders, the AGREE project partners are working hard to produce the Agenda for Transnational Cooperation for R&D on energy efficiency in agriculture. The work started with the design of the stakeholder interaction process that would allow us to bring together the views of stakeholders across the value chain and from the enabling environment. A uniform design was produced that was applied in six countries representing varying agro-climatic zones in Europe: Portugal, Greece, Poland, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands. This produced a large list of prioritized opportunities and bottlenecks to be encountered when improving energy efficiency in agriculture. This information was analyzed and clustered to produce 9 potential topics for R&D on energy efficiency. These topics needed to be detailed to produce the final Agenda. This was done by bringing together AGREE partners and representatives from the countries mentioned in Athens in a transnational meeting with a strong participatory approach. In this meeting the R&D themes were identified and prioritized within the boundaries of the list of topics based on the six country meetings. The work resulted in 11 R&D areas based on the participants’ views how to reach a more energy efficient agriculture. The final documents with all the results will be presented at the final projects meeting in Brussels on September 17, 2013 after which the Agenda will be made public through the website of AGREE.

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WP5. Dissemination

The final dissemination event will be held on the 17th September in Brussels at the Leopold Hotel Brussels, Rue du Luxembourg 35. It will start at 13:00 with a project presentation. In case you would like to participate, please send an email to the project coordinator Claudia Lutsyuk (c.lutsyuk@fnr.de)

Joint Scientific Publications; to be presented in international conferences:

■ A. Meyer-Aurich, A. Balafoutis, T. Dalgaard, C. de Visser, J. Gołaszewski, H. Mikkola, L.L. Silva, Energy Efficiency in Agriculture – Opportunities, Constraints and Research Needs, Proceedings of ISAE-2013, The First International Symposium on Agricultural Engineering, 4th-6th October 2013, Belgrade–Zemun, Serbia

■ A. Balafoutis, F. Baptista, D. Briassoulis, L.L. Silva, P. Panagakis, J.R.M. Silva, Energy Efficiency and GHG Emissions Impact from Traditional to Organic Vineyard Cultivations in Greece and Portugal, Proceedings of ISAE-2013, The First International Symposium on Agricultural Engineering, 4th-6th October 2013, Belgrade–Zemun, Serbia

■ F. Baptista, L.L. Silva, C. de Visser, J. Gołaszewski, A. Meyer-Aurich, D. Briassoulis, H. Mikkola, Murcho, D. Energy Efficiency in Agriculture, In: Complete communications of the 5th International Congress on Energy and Environment Engineering and Management 2013,Lisbon, 17-19 Julho, ISBN 978-989-98406-4-5.

■ F. Baptista, D. Briassoulis, C. Stanghellini, L.L. Silva, A. Balafoutis, A. Meyer-Aurich, A. Mistriotis, Energy efficiency in tomato greenhouse production. A preliminary study, International Symposium Greensys2013, Jeju, Korea (October 2013).

Scientific Publications; to be presented in national conferences:

■ Α. Balafoutis, D. Briassoulis, P. Panagakis, G. Papadakis, Energy Efficiency Enhancement and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction from Traditional to Organic Olive Grove and Vineyard Cultivations’, Proceedings of 8th National Conference of Agricultural Engineers EGME-2013, Volos, 24-27, September 2013

■ C. Marques, F. Baptista, L.L. Silva, D. Murcho, M. Rosado, J.R. Silva, J. Peça. 2013. Less or more intensive crop arable system of Alentejo region of Portugal: what is the option to sustainable production? Proc. VII Congresso da APDEA, Universidade de Évora, 15-19 Outubro 2013.

■ F. Baptista, C. Marques, L.L. Silva, D. Murcho, M. Rosado, J.R. Silva, J. Peça. 2013. Agriculture and energy efficiency in Portuguese agriculture and trade-offs with farm economics and environmental impacts: case studies for selected agricultural production systems. Proc. VII Congresso da APDEA, Universidade de Évora, 15-19 Outubro 2013.

■ F. Baptista, L.L. Silva, D. Murcho. 2013. Agricultura e Eficiência Energética – Projecto AGREE. Proc. Simpósio Agricultura, Energia e Ambiente. Universidade de Évora, 6 Novembro 2013.

Wikipedia

The AGREE project developed a short description of the terminology “Energy Efficiency in Agriculture” supported with relevant documentation to be uploaded in the Wikipedia website, including:

1. Definition of energy efficiency based on Article 3 of Directive 2006/32/EC 2. Definition of energy efficiency in agriculture based on the AGREE project definition 3. EU policies on promoting energy efficiency that could find application in agriculture 4. Recent developments and trends on energy efficiency in agriculture 5. A new perspective on the energy efficiency in agriculture

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Partner Names & E-mails

Philipp von Bothmer p.vonBothmer@fnr.de

Chris de Visser chris.devisser@wur.nl

Janusz Gołaszewski janusz.golaszewski@uwm.edu.pl

Demetres Briassoulis briassou@aua.gr

Andreas Meyer-Aurich ameyeraurich@atb-potsdam.de

Fátima Baptista fb@uevora.pt

Hannu Mikkola hannu.j.mikkola@helsinki.fi

Tommy Dalgaard Tommy.Dalgaard@agrsci.dk

Geography of Consortium

Deliverables

D4.5 Agenda for Transnational Co-operation on energy efficiency in agriculture

Web-site of AGREE project

AGREE web-site (http://www.agree.aua.gr/) is fully operational and continuously updated. It is used to upload public material (in its public area) and also internal material for partners and EAB members in its private/confidential area.

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URL: http://www.agree.aua.gr/

Project Coordinators

Philipp von Bothmer p.vonbothmer@fnr.de & Claudia Lutsyuk C.Lutsyuk@fnr.de

Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e.V. Agency for Renewable Resources

OT Gülzow, Hofplatz 1, 18276 Gülzow-Prüzen Germany

Scientific Coordinator

Chris de Visser chris.devisser@wur.nl

Applied Plant Research Wageningen UR PO Box 430, 8300 AK Lelystad

The Netherlands