UFOP welcomes Federal Minister Rainer’s initiative to exempt biofuels used in agriculture from tax

The Union for the Promotion of Oil and Protein Crops (UFOP) strongly supports the proposal made by Federal Minister of Agriculture Alois Rainer to exempt biofuels from energy taxes in order to make their use in agriculture more attractive.

This aligns with the call in the federal government’s coalition agreement to promote the use of alternative fuels, including biofuels.

Federal Minister Rainer is responding to a long-standing demand by UFOP to clear the way for the use of sustainably certified biofuels in agriculture.

The conflict in the Middle East currently demonstrates how quickly and effectively supply chains once believed to be secure can be disrupted and become a pawn of the parties to the conflict.

This should be the final impetus to leverage the existing potential at both the national and EU levels and deploy it specifically where it can make a tangible contribution to securing fuel supplies, reducing costs, and improving farm liquidity.

UFOP emphasises that the multitude of existing options on farms must be developed and promoted in the best possible way through integration, and therefore recommends continuing cooperation with the Board of Trustees for Technology and Construction in Agriculture (KTBL) in this area.

The catalog of measures developed by the KTBL on behalf of the BMLEH for the gradual introduction of biofuels in agriculture provides a comprehensively coordinated framework of action areas that must be taken into account to ensure that the transition can be implemented as smoothly as possible.