Some farmers are now growing their own fuel, producing biodiesel from their oilseed crops, as fuel prices soar.

ABC Radio recently featured a group of farmers near Orange who have built a plant at Blayney to process their own canola oil, and waste cooking oil from fast food stores.

They find the fuel increases engine revs and reduces power slightly.

Victorian farmer, Steven Hobbs, a finalist in Victoria’s 2006 Science Awards, has built a small biodiesel plant on his farm at Kaniva, and uses his own oil grown from canola and mustard.

He plans to commission a new plant this year and has a vision of decentralised energy facilities being established where towns generate their own energy requirements.

He has his own website at http://www.bebioenergy.com/.

Rural Woman of the Year 2006 for Western Australia, Bev Logue, is a licensed biodiesel manufacturer.

She and her husband have operated their farm machinery on canola-based biodiesel blends for the past three seasons.

The Logues believe biodiesel is equitable in price to the cost of petroleum diesel, is less toxic than mineral diesel and completely biodegradable and can reduce emissions by up to 70 per cent compared to petroleum diesel.

Bev is currently involved in establishing a co-operative canola milling facility for WA’s Northern Agricultural Region, and developing a project for regional biodiesel production.

Technically, biodiesel is the name for ester-based oxygenated fuels made from vegetable oils or animal fats.

Biodiesel differs from ethanol, which is produced from the fermentation of biomass such as wheat starch, sugar cane, molasses or other plant material.

For farmers, biodiesel looks like an economically and environmentally sustainable solution to their energy crisis.

However, there are still many issues to be considered.

Through its Single Vision project, the Grains Research and Development Corporation is trying to answer some of the key questions:

• What are the best crops for biodiesel?
• What are the dollar, energy and water costs of producing crops for energy compared with food production?
• Is it more economic to process on farm, or to set up cooperative processing plants?
• What are the uses for the oilseed meal left after processing?

Project leader, Mike McAllum, says that environmental issues need to be an integral part of planning for biofuels.

"For example," he wrote in a recent edition of Queensland Country Life, "ethanol becomes very attractive if environmental accounting is introduced, but biodiesel made from palm oil is not, because it destroys rainforest."

For a recent overview of biodiesel issues, have a look at the presentations given at last year’s biodiesel update workshop at http://www.australianoilseeds.com.