Rape not good for us?

I had to make a journey recently to Cirencester and at every field of the distinctive yellow-flowering 'Rape' crop I passed, my eyes started to run - it is the only crop that I'm aware of that has that effect on me, but that aside I also find the yellow too brash for our countryside.

Photo: looking across from Standish Woods to the Severn and a couple of fields of rape

Yes, some I know love the colour, but perhaps the biggest concern over the crop is only just starting to get coverage in the press. Writing in the Guardian, Joanna Blythman recently highlighted the environmental damage caused by intensive growing of oil-seed rape - which is now a major source of oil for biofuels.

In fact rape was almost unknown in the UK before 1970 - and is a product of an intensive cross-breeding programme after World War II.

We should note that there are different types of rape, but they mainly rely upon large quantities of fertiliser and pesticides - to which many pests are now developing immunity - the crop is almost never found on organic farms although I understand some farms have been experimenting with it and some overseas farms are now supplying the supermarkets. The pesticides used on rape (glufosinate ammonium and vinclozolin) are particularly worrying as they are suspected hormone disrupters. Overseas there is also the massive concerns about the use of GM rape crops.

Rape's chemical-hungry nature makes it a strange choice to be promoting - rape now accounts for some 11 per cent of all crops grown in the UK, and production has increased by 17 per cent in the last year. Next year's harvest is expected to top 2 million tonnes.

Part of the demand comes from EU biofuels targets of 5.25 per cent of all transport fuels by 2012 while the oil can also be used for making plastics, food, margarine, animal fodder, candles, soaps and lubricants. In terms of rape it is worth considering the words of George Monbiot:

"The most productive oil crop which can be grown in this country is rape. The average yield is between 3 and 3.5 tonnes per hectare. So every hectare of arable land could provide 1.45 tonnes of transport fuel. To run our cars and buses and lorries on biodiesel, in other words, would require 25.9m hectares. There are 5.7m in the United Kingdom. Switching to green fuels requires four and half times our arable area. Even the EU’s more modest target of 20% by 2020 would consume almost all our cropland.

"If the same thing is to happen all over Europe, the impact on global food supply will be catastrophic: big enough to tip the global balance from net surplus to net deficit. If, as some environmentalists demand, it is to happen worldwide, then most of the arable surface of the planet will be deployed to produce food for cars, not people."

It seems clear that rape is not the answer that some are suggesting it might be - we need to look much deeper at what is really going on. Of course biofuels have a place but they should not be seen as an excuse for not tackling the real issues like reducing the need to travel etc etc. To read more on this with particular regard to our food supplies I would urge blog readers to download Caroline Lucas' excellent report "Fuelling a food crisis: the impact of peak oil on food security."