THE introduction of the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation on Tuesday means fuel companies are now obliged to include 2.5pc of renewable fuels in all road fuels.

While there will be no noticeable change for motorists there will be an improved carbon footprint as compared with fossil fuels.

However, Peter Hull, chief executive of Farmway, says some media coverage has been largely hostile towards biofuels and some misconceptions need correcting.

They include:

* Using crops for biofuels is forcing up the price of food. Fact: Recent rises in raw commodity prices are a result of many factors including the weather, poor harvests and increased demand for food from emerging economies such as China and India.

The costs of manufacturing, processing and advertising account for a significant proportion of the rises.

* Biofuel production uses more energy than it produces.

Fact: Research by North-East Biofuels demonstrates an energy saving of nine per cent when compared to fossil diesel if the rapemeal produced in the process is used to generate power.

* The UK cannot produce enough crops to produce food and biofuels. Fact: Demand for food and fuel is increasing. The response of UK growers can only be a part of the overall solution, but biofuel crops will ensure all growers receive a fair price for the products they produce to reflect their efforts and expertise.

Not all suitable land is in use, but improved returns for growers will ensure all land will be utilised.

The main co-products from biofuel production can also provide high protein animal feed for livestock.

The UK is estimated to annually throw away some 20m tonnes of food, offering significant scope for improvement.

* Biofuels are bad because they are destroying forests, and people and animals are being displaced. Fact: As with many manufacturing processes, there are acceptable methods of manufacture and ones which are unacceptable.

Cutting down forests, destroying habitats to produce crops is unacceptable. The UK Government has a responsibility to ensure biofuels produced in such a manner are not used in the UK.

Sustainability reporting, which will be introduced in the UK this month, and become law from 2011, must be the standard.

The reporting is comprehensive and covers deforestation, air, water and soil quality as well as social effects. Biofuels is a driver for sustainable development for agricultural production.

Probably the largest myth around the climate change debate is the statistic widely quoted that livestock is responsible for 18pc of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions - more than road transport.

This statistic was quoted by the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation in 2006, but does not stack up.

It assumes that the Amazonian rain forest is to be cleared and replaced with cattle ranches and animal feed crops, such as soya.

The rate of clearance is much less than the estimate, but no adjustment has been made.

No allowance was made for greenhouse gases from whatever use the land was ultimately put to - this fundamental flaw makes the 18pc figure unsustainable.

A November 2007 report by the UK's Food Climate Research Network claimed the figure was just 8pc, again with no allowance for gases which would be produced by an alternative to livestock.

More work is urgently required to justify the exact figure, but it is clear that 18pc is not correct.

There are clear environmental benefits of livestock grazing, especially in upland habitats, and the country would be poorer without them.

UK agriculture must contribute to the debate about climate change and fully explain the positive role it has to play.

Only by fully explaining the facts can the public realise the benefits and continue to give the necessary support.