Following a stakeholder consultation meeting in February 2004, the topic of "Non-Food
Crops?" emerged as one of the main work streams for the Commission.
This work stems from the growing interest in non-food agriculture which is being cited as a
potential solution to a wide range of social and environmental issues, including
diversification of the rural economy post CAP reform, the use of biomass and biofuels to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the development of sustainable and less polluting ways of
producing industrial feed stock and chemicals and using plants to produce large amounts of
drugs and other pharmaceuticals cheaply.
The Commission is keen to ensure that it is informed about, and can address, the issues
that interest the public on non-food agriculture. We felt a proactive approach was required
in order to engage people and opinions that may not be captured through our normal
stakeholder contacts. By way of a range of examples of non-food uses of crops involving
biotechnology, the Commission canvassed public attitudes to these applications.
It has presented the results of this exercise to Government, with the aim of informing policy-making
in this area.
