Background

The scientific interest group AGRICE, Agriculture for Chemicals and Energy, focuses on new uses and enhanced value for agricultural products and byproducts as energy, chemical and materials feedstocks. AGRICE is committed to coordinating, funding, monitoring and evaluating research and development programmes that further these goals.

AGRICE was founded in 1994 by the French government ministries for Agriculture, Environment, Industry and Research, in collaboration with ADEME, the French Agency for Environment and Energy Management. The initial six-year term came to an end in 2000. After an evaluation process the ministries which sponsor AGRICE have decided to renew the group's charter for another six years.

Operational Structure

AGRICE's membership comprises associate members, scientific, technical and economic research bodies, businesses, and professional organisations in agriculture. These partners are solicited via a call for expressions of interest to identify businesses, professional and research bodies and institutions that are involved in creating value from agricultural resources (agri-resources).

ADEME handles the management and monitoring of AGRICE research and development programmes. From 1994 to 2000 AGRICE supported more than 300 research projects, providing some 500 million francs in funding overall.

AGRICE issues requests for proposals to select research activities and environmental and socioeconomic studies. A scientific council, made up of ex officio institutional members, associated members and experts, prepares the tenders, assesses proposals and carries out a preliminary selection of the proposed research programmes. The council is assisted by a wide network of experts and thematic working groups. A group council made up of the ex officio members and associate members makes the final selection of AGRICE projects, defines the research strategy and guides funding policy and allocation.

The Stakes

The use of renewable resources such as agricultural crops or molecules derived from plants (agri-resources) offers many advantages for the community at large. First of all, production based on agri-resources is environmentally sound; it helps mitigate the greenhouse effect by storing or reducing atmospheric CO₂ emissions, and improves the environmental compatibility and innocuousness of the resulting products. Non-renewable fossil resources are conserved, and producers are encouraged to use rational cultivation practices. These new supply chains create jobs and increase the added value generated by the national economy, in addition to displacing imports of petroleum-based raw materials.

The Potential

In 1999, 5% of cultivated lands in Europe were used to produce crops for new plant-based feedstocks and agri-resources. In France these crops cover over 700,000 hectares (see table). According to a report drawn up in 1998 for the French government by Philippe Desmarescaux, director-general of Rhône-Poulenc, the arable land devoted to industrial and alternative crops could double in the next 10 years. Driven by research and supported by industry and public authorities, agri-resources have already contributed to the creation and expansion of new markets in energy (biofuels), chemicals (lubricants, solvents, surfactants) and materials (polymers, composite materials), thus creating new outlets for agriculture. The agri-resources industry has developed new quality and performance standards that meet consumers' expectations as well as competing effectively with oil-based resources.

Following the conferences on climate change held in Kyoto and Buenos Aires, and the Berlin Summit (Agenda 2000), and faced with the continuing depletion of fossil resources, a new and favourable context is emerging for agri-resources and for AGRICE. Improved processes, biotechnologies, sustainable development and strong marketing appeal (renewable plant products that respect the environment) are further signs of a promising future.

Targets and Strategy

Creating new forms of added value from agri-resources requires major and ongoing research efforts. AGRICE has pursued this goal since 1994, enriching it and deepening its impact. While significant results have already been achieved, this work must be maintained and amplified, to investigate new pathways and extract the most value from the work accomplished.

In this spirit an economic intelligence unit on renewable products and the greenhouse effect, PRONOVIAL, was set up on 21 May 2001 for the purpose of developing new markets for agricultural products, and to provide stakeholders with comprehensive, detailed and accessible information on the available techniques, applications, economic and environmental data, and potential outlets. The founders and members of PRONOVIAL are industrial, commercial and financial players active in new ways to use plants and plant based products in energy and chemicals.

Today AGRICE's research-development programmes have been strengthened and fine-tuned, with a more direct focus on industry and markets. Developing agricultural practices that are compatible with the environment, exemplified by non-food crops, continues to be a priority for AGRICE.

	Situation 1998		Outlook 2011
	Tonnage (t)	Land area (hec)	Tonnage (t)	Land area (hec)
Liquid biofuels	435 000	255 000	500 000 to 1 000 000	300 000 to 600 000
Lubricants	10 000	8 000	110 000	83 000
Intermediate solvents Oilseeds Grains, beets	300 000	85 000	50 000 450 000	40 000 115 000
total		85 000	500 000	155 000
Surfactants Oilseed crops (lipophile) Other (hydrophile)			75 000 25 000	55 000 5 000
total			100 000	60 000
Materials, fibres		58 000		58 000
Industrial starches		240 000		300 000
Polymers, materials Pharmaceuticals, cosmetics Solid biofuels		29 000 1 000		10 000 37 000 40 000
total		676 000		1 340 000 to 1 640 000