| Abstract: | Oil-Bearing Plant Cultivation and Utilization from the Viewpoint of Agricultural Policy Cultivation of oil-bearing plants has a greater importance than generally thought. Hardly any other agricultural commodity is more dependent on supply by the world market than oilseeds. The European Economic Community meets only 30% of its requirement of plant oils and less than 10% of its requirement of plant proteins by its own production. From this aspect the marketing instruments are fully justified. Rapeseed is undoubtedly the most important oilseed of the temperate zone. It has a great future in entire Europe. More than twothirds of the German rapeseed production was harvested in the northernmost federal state. Without exaggeration, one might designate Schleswig-Holstein as the most intensive winter rape region of the world. This would not have been possible without successful breeding work carried out at research institutes and plant breeding firms. In this context one might recall the impressive quality improvement of rapeseed by switching over to low-erucic varieties. The next step must be the improvement of protein content. The author anticipates intensive research that would provide useful results within a short time. The same holds for the stability of the oil by reducing the linolenic acid content, which is genetically not an easy task. In view of the importance of meeting the energy requirement the utilization of biomass in future will become an important part of agricultural considerations. Although the utilization of plant oils as fuel might not be very successful, the fat market must be considered from a global viewpoint. For the time being and in the near future plant oil will remain a food item. A good quality and informing the public will ensure their sale. |
