
- How to get to the other side of the force? Which renewable energy systems are best for farmers? This is how you can briefly define the very extensive topic of the "Farmer" conference, which took place at the castle in Gniew.
- An distinguished group of our guests presented the best solutions and created a plan for the future for the development of renewable energy in rural areas.
- Conference speakers emphasized that there will be no development of rural areas and agriculture without cheap green energy.
- Calculating the carbon footprint throughout the entire supply chain will soon be a basic requirement in food production.
One of the key development challenges of the Polish countryside and agriculture is to raise the standard of living, defined, among others, by: the level of development of energy infrastructure, including primarily green energy, i.e. energy from renewable sources (RES).
There will be no development without green energy
Green energy sources will determine the development of agriculture and rural areas, reducing energy supply deficits and thus stabilizing the conditions for conducting agricultural and economic activities. Achieving climate neutrality is one of the greatest civilizational challenges for Poland in its history, affecting almost all areas of our lives, including, of course, agricultural production.
The government is currently working on how Poland wants to achieve ambitious greenhouse gas emission reduction goals. The draft National Energy and Climate Plan is to be presented soon. It is about improving the quality of the environment, including air, improving energy efficiency in the economy, low-emission construction and the development of distributed energy. Making decisions on how Poland will achieve low emission and then implementing them are intended to provide Poles with energy security and counteract energy poverty.
The editors of "Farmer", in order to meet the goals and needs of farmers, organized a conference entitled "Power Fields – green energy in agriculture and agri-food processing", during which scientists, experts and practitioners talked about investments in renewable energy. The full report from our conference can be found on farmer.pl in the conferences tab.
Biogas with priority
The production of green energy is an extremely important topic for farmers because it affects the profitability of agricultural production. Energy prices are keeping me awake at night and it will only get worse. Is green energy really an alternative to lower production costs? Of course. However, for renewable energy to grow in strength, and with it for farmers investing in biogas plants, appropriate administrative, legal and financial conditions must be created, especially for biogas production.
Michał Kołodziejczak, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, who participated in our conference and who is responsible for renewable energy in the Ministry of Agriculture, emphasized that rural areas are, on the one hand, the most excluded in terms of energy, but on the other hand, they have the greatest potential for energy production.
Kołodziejczak reminded that one billion zlotys of public money had already supported the construction of a biogas plant and had been used in full, another billion was to be allocated from the KPO for the construction of energy networks. He knows that farmers and investors are currently waiting for further programs from which they could obtain money for investments in renewable energy sources and that the lack of financial resources is holding back investments. Without money, there will be no cheap green energy. Although the Deputy Minister of Agriculture also talked about cheap loans subsidized by the State Treasury, he did not specify whether they could be used during the construction of a biogas plant. He emphasized that he would do everything to ensure that biogas plants have priority in connecting to the electricity grid.
– We need a vision of distributed energy – said Dr. Hab. during the conference. Paweł Obstawski from SGGW – Not that someone, somewhere, wants to connect to the network. This cannot be the case, planned and well-thought-out energy should dominate. We should place emphasis on the diversification of energy sources and the creation of the so-called autonomous energy regions – emphasized the scientist. In his opinion, the solution to problems with the capacity of power grids are investments in biogas plants.
Management and financing
In the main debate during the Farmer conference, in addition to the people quoted, i.e. Michał Kołodziejczak and Dr. hab. Paweł Obstawski was attended by: Arkadiusz Krygier, director, Department of Cooperation with Partners and Sales Support for SMEs and Agribusiness from Credit Agricole Bank Polska SA, Jerzy Kuźmiński, member of the management board, Respect Energy SolarWind and Justyna Stępniak, from the Agricultural Production Systems Department, Agricultural Advisory Center in Brwinów o/Radom.
– The state can never keep up with entrepreneurs, and yet a modern farmer is an entrepreneur – said Jerzy Kuźmiński. – Farmers want to know how much money they will spend on investing in green energy, how much money they will spend on maintaining the investment and finally how much they will earn from it – he emphasized.
In addition to lending money for investments, the banking sector must train its advisors to understand the energy business. – We reach farmers with information not only about the possibility of obtaining appropriate financial tools, but also with knowledge about the functioning of the green energy market – said Arkadiusz Krygier.
Agrophotovoltaics and wind energy
Analyzes of the potential of using photovoltaics in the agricultural industry in Poland were the topic of the lecture by Dr. Eng. Adam Mroziński from the Department of Engineering of Renewable Energy Sources and Technical Systems, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Bydgoszcz University of Technology. The doctor talked about the opportunities and threats for the development of PV in agriculture in Poland. He answered the questions: is PV for the farmer? He also talked about the latest technological solutions in the PV industry and new system solutions in the form of AgroPV. The debate on the future of wind energy and the development of photovoltaic farms included: Holger Gallas, member of the management board, Sevivon Sp. z o. o., Rafał Malarowski, deputy director, RE-Source Poland Hub Foundation, Łukasz Oborski, president of the management board, Polish Agrovoltaics Association and Małgorzata Malinowska-Mizera, vice-president of the management board, Młyny Szczepanki Sp. z o. o
Dr. Eng. Adam Świętochowski, from the Institute of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Biosystems Engineering, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, presented the strengths and weaknesses of biogas production. He talked about the conditions of its production, including the technological process, raw materials and digestate. The doctor supervises the construction of a biogas plant on one of the farms of SGGW.
Collaboration in the green transformation and carbon footprint
Green energy can guarantee not only cheap agricultural production, but will also guarantee the production of low-emission food. The following people talked about cooperation in this area: Marek Jedziniak, research and development manager at Biogas System SA, Jerzy Lilia, director of strategic investments at CPF Poland, LipCo Foods and Łukasz Dąbrowski, from the Energy Planning Department, Department of Economic Development, Marshal's Office of the Pomeranian Voivodeship . Their discussion was preceded by an introductory lecture on energy cooperatives, delivered by Wojciech Rylski from the Department of Renewable Energy Sources, Department of Innovation, National Center for Agricultural Support.
It all starts with renewable energy sources and ends with the so-called clean, emission-free food.
From 2025, agri-food companies will require their suppliers to calculate their carbon footprint. Their representatives indicate that consumers will have no mercy. Information on CO2 emissions will be provided on product packaging. Farmers face a very big challenge, related primarily to the methodology of calculating the carbon footprint. Moreover, the products that consumers will reach for will contain information about their carbon footprint on their packaging.
Video reports from the conference can be viewed in the conferences/Power Fields tab.
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