THE county's oilseed rape fields could provide a solution to the problem of the fuel shortages that this week sent a shudder down the nation's spine.

Environmentalists have long urged the Government to put increased resources into developing alternative sources of power to the oil fields, both domestic and foreign, and there's a growing voice that British agriculture could help.

The point was highlighted in a letter to the Daily Telegraph by a farmer in Kent, sent as queues of motorists built up around his local petrol stations.

"I write as a farmer with 200 hectares of oilseed rape," said Andrew Martin. "This oilseed has a capacity to produce 290,000 litres of fuel that I could use without any adaptation in my car, our farm tractors and our combine harvester or sell to my neighbours.

"With North Sea Oil depleting and increasing reliance on Opec, it would surely be strategically prudent and economically beneficial to everyone to ensure we have our own sources of fuel available from the fertile acres of the British countryside."

The whole subject of creating fuel from grown products is called biofuel and has a strong supporter in Julian Gairdner, arable editor of Farmers Weekly.

"British fields have the potential to be the oil wells of the future," he said. "Just one hectare of oilseed rape could produce 1,900 litres of biodiesel, enough to fuel a car for approximately 19,000 miles

"Supermarket chain Tesco is latching on to this and, next year, 40 per cent of its garage forecourts are expected to sell biofuel."

One of the problems of biofuel production in the past has been its cost, but recent high oil prices have changed these economics, making biofuel more competitive.

"The farming industry is battling with Gordon Brown to provide sufficient tax incentives for UK crops to be converted into biofuels and to adopt the renewable fuel obligation, for which provisions has been made in the Energy Act," said Mr Gairdner.

"The world energy crisis, recently aggravated by the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, demonstrates to the Government the need for long-term investment in alternative energy sources.

"Compared with much of Europe we are still a long way behind in developing a biofuels industry which will become integral to the sustainability of the economy and provide a real opportunity to make progress on climate change."

A report to the Government two years ago highlighted the benefits of biofuels, which, it said produced 50-70 per cent less carbon dioxide than fossil petrol and diesel.

It advocated the use of set aside land for biofuel production, which would increase rural productivity.

"There need be no conflict with conservation interests if appropriate headland and woodland management is incorporated into biofuel production," said the paper by the British Association for Bio Fuels and Oils.

It added that English Nature and the RSPB had suggested rape seed as a source of biofuel.

Another benefit was that that low biofuel blends can reach the customer very easily through the existing fuel distribution network and without expensive engine conversions.

So more yellow fields for Worcestershire then.