Optimizing energy use is a key issue in agriculture

By: STA Date: 2023. 05. 05. 10:00

The optimization of production processes and energy use in agriculture has become a key issue in the recent period, which requires capital, but pays off, which is why supporting this is of particular importance for the Ministry of Agriculture – stated Zsolt Feldman, the State Secretary for Agriculture and Rural Development of the Ministry of Agriculture at the 1st Precision Drying Conference , in Kecskemét.

(Photo: István Fekete)

In his speech, Zsolt Feldman emphasized that in recent years, within the framework of the Rural Development Program, extensive support opportunities were available to improve the energy use efficiency of agricultural and processing plants, and within the framework of 20 calls for tenders, a total of 5,000 agricultural enterprises were given the opportunity to implement related developments worth about HUF 103 billion.

Developments have been facilitated by the previous goals

The state secretary explained that in the last two years, their priority was to encourage the developments that enable agricultural enterprises to produce higher added value with the help of technological developments. As part of this, they targeted the technological renewal of crop drying and cleaning in field crop production, since efficiency and effectiveness in preserving the quality of the harvested crop and preparing it for storage are just as important as in field work processes. In the framework of this call for tenders, 640 Hungarian agricultural companies won almost HUF 150 billion in support, most of the developments are currently being implemented, the state secretary pointed out.

Many resources for economic development

Zsolt Feldman drew attention to the fact that HUF 1,500 billion is available for economic development in the period from 2023 to 2027, which is more than half of the rural development resources, in which the development of agricultural farms and food industry enterprises has a central place. Increasing the energy efficiency and quality of agriculture, as well as renewable energy, will play an important role in the calls for tenders. During this period, we will give preference to developments resulting in increased energy savings, the state secretary added.

Today, 7.9% of the average total cost of domestic agricultural production is related to energy – reminded Zsolt Feldman

The state secretary highlighted: in terms of material costs, this exceeds 16%, on the basis of which it can be said that energy consumption, optimization of production processes and conscious management of the energy expenditure side are key issues in agriculture. All technological optimization requires capital, but it pays off, which is why our task is to support energy-type developments and capacity upgrades, he added.

A.M