Abstract The article explores the history of breeding hogweed Sosnovsky “Severyanin”, its cultivation for preparing silage and feeding cattle in the Soviet Union, the reasons for the refusal to grow it and its rapid spread in many regions of Russia, its capture of free spaces and the displacement of other plants. The scale of advancement of cow parsnip has become threatening in the European part of the country. As a result, it was deleted from the Russian State Register of Breeding Achievements and classified as a weed. The article emphasizes that an active fight against wild-growing hogweed is currently being carried out using various methods and means. But it does not give significant results. Since the measures taken to eradicate the hogweed turned out to be untenable, the question arises: what to do with Sosnowsky’s hogweed? The article proposes to solve this problem by cultivating it, mowing it and producing biofuel from it. The potential of hogweed as a useful plant is revealed, the technological scheme of its processing is given. The most important requirement is the creation of a closed, environmentally friendly production in order to prevent the uncontrolled spread of hogweed and protect people from skin burns caused by oils contained in it. The article formulates the tasks that consist in using Sosnowsky’s hogweed in solving the energy problem.