Gwyn Jones' Farm Diary November 17

Talking of tractors, the Department of Transport and Defra announced the introduction of Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (ReTFO) last week.

By The Newsroom

Published 15th Nov 2005, 16:29 BST

Updated 8th Jun 2018, 03:35 BST

This includes a commitment to ensure that 5% of all fuel sold on UK forecourts are to come from a renewable source by 2010. This should save around 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, which is the equivalent of taking a million cars off the road.

This could increase in future years, bringing environmental benefits to all. Drivers will not notice any difference as they drive, as bio fuels make no difference to engine performance. The government currently supports bio fuels through a 20p per litre duty incentive, which has stimulated sales of around 10 million litres a month (about .25% of all road fuel sales). This is good news for farmers, and is a sensible development of transport policy. This should now encourage the development of a domestic bio fuels industry.

Gwyn Jones' Farm Diary appears every week in the West Sussex Gazette. To read the full version of this article, see the issue of November 17.