Distilling fuel limit remains

Press, 17 September 1980, Page 14

Distilling fuel limit remains

“No way” will the Government lift completely its restrictions on the distilling of spirit,by farmers fur use as a fuel, the agriculture section of MidCanterbury Federated Farmers has been told. In a report to the section, the federation’s dominion agriculture section chairman (Mr N. Q. Wright) said that a reply from the Minister of Energy (Mr Birch) confirmed the Government’s policy. At present, individuals, under licence, are permitted to produce 5000 litres of alcohol a year for use as fuel.

Farmers have complained that the capital cost of a

plant to produce that limit could not be justified, and wanted to form small col operatives to produce a number of individual quotas from a single plant.

While the Government would not completely lift the restriction, legislation now before the House allowed for each proposal to be considered separately, and that had been greeted by farmers as something of a breakthrough, Mr Wright said. Fuel alternatives to diesel seemed to be opening up slowly (p the cropping sector. Last year, at the height of diesel shortages, there was concern that allocations could be cut further

• '■ ■ 'i i; .. ‘ . ’ , 4 | than ; the 90 per cer't allowed. > f A circular to the section from Fletcher’s said that, farmers could have - oilseed rape processed by the company into a fuel oil, Capable of replacing diesel.For each tonne of .oilseed rape supplied to/the company the fanner would receive 380 litres of oils On present prices that represented $143.64 a tonnC, according to the secretary of the federation’s MidCanterbury province, 1 but hebelieved it would become cheaper.

At present Fletcher’s Dunedin plant was geared to produce oil for human consumption. For fuel the

crop did not need as much processing. Mr Wright suggested that the crushing could be done in Ashburton.