Irish farmers can produce all of Ireland's green fuel needs, Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) president Padraig Walshe said today.
Speaking at the Agricultural Science Association conference in Sligo today, Mr Walshe said next December's budget will be the "critical measure" of the Government's commitment to making bio-energy crop growing profitable.
"Farmers need to know the practical, specific and profitable business opportunities that might emerge as this sector develops," Mr Walshe said.
Low margins in cereals and the end of sugar beet growing, allied to EU rules on converting too grassland to arable farming, means farmers have land available to grow energy crops, he said.
He suggested Irish biofuel industries should be granted "pilot-project status" until 2010 to give time for the development of the sector.
EU regulations need to provide more of a financial incentive for bio-energy crops and are likely to be reviewed upwards in the future, Mr Walshe said.
He said farmers could also have a role in emissions trading. Under the terms of the Kyoto Protocol, those who stay below their allocated pollution target can sell their surplus to those exceeding their limit.
"The IFA is proposing that domestic joint implementation projects, which would enable groups of farmers to participate financially in delivering emissions reductions, should be a key element in the revised National Climate Change Strategy," Mr Walshe said.
The National Climate Change Strategy is aimed at reducing Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions. Currently Ireland is behind its Kyoto Protocol target and is facing a bill that could, according to some estimates, reach €200 annually between 2008 an 2012.
The strategy was introduced in 2000, and a revision is due by the end of the year.