by ELIZABETH NASH
MADRID - Spain has pioneered a revolutionary way of producing energy from genetically engineered artichokes, and is shortly to set up two artichoke-fuelled power stations.
These are not your common globe artichokes, eaten section by section with melted butter or perhaps vinaigrette. These are monsters, capable of heating and lighting a small town, known as "Cynara cardunculus," or cardoons.
They are similar to the edible artichoke, and grow to three metres and their roots plunge seven metres down. Cut like sugar cane in the autumn, each plant can produce seven harvests.
Farmers are being persuaded by EU subsidies and gifts of seeds to sow the prickly plants (cardoons are closely related to thistles) on abandoned soil in the northern towns of Villabilla de Burgos and Alcala de Gurrea.
When dried, pulped and burned in special turbines, the resultant harvest will produce energy for 60,000 people.
To make the crop even more calorific, Spanish scientists have made genetic modifications to keep mice at bay.
Following 15 years of research, the first pilot crop was sown last year. Results were uneven.
"They grew to 70 centimetres but, because the
seeds were spaced too widely, the woody trunks were too tough to be cut. What was worse, the crop was so sweet it was eaten by mice," laments Javier Plaza, agricultural technician at the proposed Burgos plant.
Genetic engineering succeeded in producing a bitter variety, repulsive to rodents.
Cardoons are ideal for Spain's hot summers and dry limy soil, enthusiasts say. They prevent soil erosion and are environmentally friendly, requiring almost no fertiliser or pesticide.
The twin power stations are backed by a consortium that includes Spanish banks and a government energy institute. Operations will begin in two years, each plant burning 105,000 metric tonnes of thistles annually.
The EU's Common Agricultural Policy offers farmers 100 pounds sterling per hectare, and the power station guarantees to pay up to 20 pounds sterling a tonne.
Farmers at are haggling for more. Mr Plaza says they must produce 17,000 tonnes per hectare to break even.
"They can't just take the subsidy and fold their arms. Cardoons are hard work."
GE artichoke to fuel Spanish power stations
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