The Advanced Feedstocks Alliance brings together companies from across the agricultural feedstock and renewable fuels value chain. It was established to support practical, evidence-based certification rules for intermediate crops and crops grown on severely degraded land. These feedstocks can broaden Europe’s renewable fuel supply, support farmers and the bioeconomy, and help lower the GHG intensity of transport, while avoiding additional demand for land.

Intermediate crops are grown between two main crops, during a period when the land would otherwise be fallow or used for a non-revenue cover crop. They provide an additional harvest within the existing agricultural rotation without replacing the main crop or generating demand for new land to be brought into agricultural production. At the same time, they need no pesticides and fertilizers and can deliver soil health benefits while storing carbon in the soil.  Their timing and management must reflect local climatic and agronomic conditions to reach their full potential.  

Although definitions and identification methods vary, severely degraded land can be understood broadly as land whose productive capacity has been significantly reduced, for example through severe erosion or very low soil organic carbon. Where such land meets the relevant criteria and remains agronomically suitable, cultivating appropriate crops can create economic value and support soil improvement without generating demand for additional land.  

Examples include oilseed crops such as camelina, carinata and winter canola. Oilseed crops can be pressed to produce vegetable oil, which can then be processed through established HVO and HEFA technologies into renewable fuels for aviation, maritime transport, heavy-duty vehicles and agricultural machinery. The process can also produce valuable co-products, including protein-rich animal feed. 

These crops are already being cultivated through commercial programmes, agricultural trials and established rotations, although supply chains are at different stages of maturity. Studies (e.g. Concawe May 2026) have placed Camelina at Technology Readiness Level 7 and Carinata at TRL 6, putting them at pilot-to-demonstration scale. EU cover and intermediate cropping already cover up to 13.1 million hectares, around 7.1 million hectares of which overlaps with land considered biophysically suitable for productive intermediate cropping. 

Item descriptionIntermediate crops use the period between main crops on land already within an agricultural rotation, while crops on severely degraded land use qualifying land with significantly reduced productive capacity. As such, by definition they grow on land that would be lie fallow or would be non-productive. They do not replace the main crop or require new land to be converted to agriculture. 

For farmers, these crops can turn an off-season, fallow period or non-revenue cover crop into an additional harvest and income opportunity, while producing co-products such as animal feed. Intermediate crops can also keep living roots in the soil for longer, reduce periods of bare soil and add organic matter. Camelina-barley rotations in Southern Europe have been modelled to add approximately 43 kg of soil carbon per hectare each year, compared with 31 kg under continuous camelina.  

European production can create a valuable domestic source of sustainable feedstock by integrating intermediate crops into existing rotations and cultivating qualifying severely degraded land, without generating additional demand for land. This can create new income opportunities for farmers, strengthen agricultural supply chains and supply European renewable fuel producers. Responsibly certified imports can then complement the volumes Europe can produce domestically.  

Europe’s renewable fuel demand is expected to grow faster than domestic cultivation can scale. Responsibly certified imports are therefore needed to complement European production, not replace it. 

They can provide the additional volumes required to meet demand while supporting Europe’s renewable fuel value chain through processing and refining in European facilities. Together, European production and imports can broaden the feedstock base, strengthen security of supply and support investment in Europe’s bioeconomy. Both must meet the same applicable EU sustainability and certification requirements. 

Intermediate crops and crops grown on severely degraded land are recognised under the Renewable Energy Directive, but legal recognition does not automatically make them certifiable in practice. A lack of clear operational rules, together with gaps between the RED and agricultural frameworks such as the CAP, makes it difficult for farmers, certification schemes and fuel producers to demonstrate compliance, invest and conclude long-term supply agreements. 

The Coalition is calling for a robust, practical and evidence-based certification framework under the revision of the Renewable Energy Directive Implementing Regulation 2022/996. It should work for both European production and responsibly certified imports, recognise the crops’ verified sustainability performance and maintain strong safeguards against additional land demand and displacement