In the last ten years, the cultivation of energy crops in Germany has increased fourfold. In 2008, the cultivation amounted to around 2 million ha - representing about 17% of arable land. This significant development questions inevitably the nature impact of biomass supply. The DBU therefore promoted a number of projects on this issue. One of these is the project "Strategies for an environmentally-friendly biomass supply at district level - the example of the regions Ostprignitz-Ruppin/Brandenburg and Chiemgau / Bavaria. This project was implemented by the Department of Agricultural Economics of the University of Munich in cooperation with the Institute of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning at the TU Berlin as well as the participating counties. Focus of the project was to develop a methodology to visualize the different risks of cultivation of energy crops from the view of nature and environmental protection. The statements on the nature impact are based on an ecological risk analysis. Crops like corn, rapeseed, rye, and new crops such as Sudan grass or poplar trees have been examined. The effects of cultivation were evaluated in terms of the parameters of soil erosion by water and wind, soil compaction, nutrient leaching and degradation of biodiversity. Since the methodology is based on nationally available data, it is applicable to other regions with few adjustments.
