The current agricultural production uses for the driving of machines and processing technique mostly the energy of liquid fuels of fossil origin. Incessant growth of fossil fuel prices, limited sources of such energy, political crises, etc., they all influence the increasing interest of entire society for alternative or renewable energy sources. In the last few years, beside its traditional role of food production and raw material for different purposes, in the world agriculture has been gaining on importance in the field of renewable energy sources or assurance of raw material required for the production of environmental friendly energy.
Recent research has been intensively directed towards the field of renewable energy sources in agriculture (stress being laid on biofuels such as: biodiesel, pure plant oil, biogas and solid fuels from harvesting residues).
Energy plants that are used for the production of biofuels could also be used to remove pollutants from soil. Phytoremediation has been used for the last 15 years as promising technology for the soil and water cleanup of large volumes of contaminated sites. Plants use two strategies to resist increasing concentrations of heavy metals in soil. They exclude them, or they uptake and accumulate contaminants on their above-ground tissues. With the use of surface vegetation, that is based on accumulation and concentration of toxic components (mostly is used to eliminate heavy metals, which don’t decomposed, but can be removed with phytoremediation) in its biomass (mostly in root system, and also in other parts of the plant), it is possible, with careful elimination of the biomass, to clean the contaminated area (Bioremed, 2005). Plants and its biomass from polluted areas could be used in a different ways.
The research project should improve market competitiveness of major staple food crops at local, national, regional and global markets and improve farm level productivity.