Farmers helping meet renewable energy aims
Bank House Farm, The Delph, Spalding Eco farmer Eddy Whitfield who is growing bio crops Pictured with dog Poppy
FARMERS in south Lincolnshire could be helping to contribute as much as a quarter of renewable energy targets in future.
That is the predication of the NFU chief adviser on renewable energy and climate change Dr Jonathan Scurlock, who suggests a “significant amount of land” will eventually be devoted to the production of biofuels and other energy crops.
He says: “We might get to the situation where anything like a quarter is coming out of the land-based sector. That’s everything – bio energy, wind and solar.”
Many local farmers already have wind turbines or solar panels or are pursuing planning applications to introduce them, both to meet their own energy needs on the farm and to make the business more profitable by enjoying feed-in tariffs.
However, Edward Whitfield, who farms at The Delph in Spalding and at Market Deeping, is one of just two local growers producing miscanthus, a crop used as biomass fuel by power stations.
He has been growing the crop for about six years and says the rapid growth and high biomass yield make it a favourite choice as a bioenergy option. Despite this, miscanthus is not grown as much in the UK as might be expected, given its good returns on what Dr Scurlock calls “poor or ‘problem’ land”.
Edward already has solar panels on his grain store roof creating 63kW of electricity and has submitted an application for planning permission for two small turbines behind the store. There has been an irrigation reservoir on the farm for about 25 years.
He said: “We are looking at trying to become greener and protect the environment but there is also the income aspect from it. It will supplement the farm income a little bit, but it’s a long-term project.”
Dr Scurlock says our local farms won’t look very different in future, although people may see different crops, some of them ‘non-food’ which help to provide more diverse habitats for wildlife.
Dr Scurlock added: “As long as farmers can make a sensible economic argument and they are compatible with environmental objectives, there are lots of different technologies out there farmers could be using. We are not saying every farmer should be putting up wind turbines or solar, but look at your business and see which technology fits best.”
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Weather for Spalding
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 10 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 10 C to 19 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: North east
Comments
There are 5 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
Sidley
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 11:02 AMWoody and ffbc..There speak the voices of the uninformed! The issues you INCORRECTLY cite re; creating world hunger is because of the growing of CORN for ethanol based fuels. These are grown on prime land and YES you are correct BUT.. Miscanthus is grown, invariably, on land which is UNSUITABLE for food crops and thus makes no or little contribution to world hunger, in fact your green aspect of the argument is dead in the water as were any farmer to attempt to grow any food crops on these types of land then the carbon and other chemical debts incurred would make the whole "green" issue far more relevant. Miscanthus is actually a carbon NEGATIVE crop AND it requires no fertilises of pesticides to be used in it's growth (unlike food crops)..FACT!! As regards wind turbines..I'm with you on this. They are a blight. A Miscanthus powered micro generation project would be a far better bet AND, as the farmer grows the stuff anyhow, would make a much better as regards being green. Why don't people do a LITTLE research BEFORE offering, what are basically Daily Mail type ignorant "panic and sensationalist opinions"?
agric student
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 01:38 AMAs an agricultural degree student we are being told by our industry and Brussels that we need to make agriculture greener and more sustainable. With rising energy costs (oil, gas etc) something needs to be done to provide for the future generations who will be around in 50 plus years. With the ever increasing world population (over 7 Billion) the world food stocks are running low but if trials were allowed to take place like GM to maximise yields on forever decreasing land hectares due to housing demands there may be more food in the world. We are being told by the government and EU that farmers should stop relying on SFP from the RPA so we are taking own steps to keep our heads above water. Think about the future generations of your family not just yourselves today! I would like to see you give it a go for being a farmer, working long hours for low pay outside in all weathers. If you really think we dont care about food supply go out there change your career and give it a go and see what farming is really about. WITHOUT FARMERS THERE WOULD BE NO FOOD AND NO COUNTRYSIDE AS YOU SEE IT TODAY
woody
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 09:13 AMCan I add that as a nation we need to grow more of our own crops and not waste land on biofuels. A recent report showed the in the event of a national emergency there is about one weeks worth of food in the supply chain, after that - NOTHING. Since the EU made changes tot he CAP and we discontinued the policy of storing excess food the nation is in real danger of going hungry in times of emergency. This isn't helped by farmers growing crops for biofuels in any shape of form - Biofuels are about making money, nothing more.
ffbc
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 05:31 PMShame mr whitfield doesnt care about wildlife. He is trying to get 6 huge 122m hight wind turbines on his land right next to lincolnshire wildlife trusts new reserve at willow tree fen. Its all about money
woody
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 12:20 PMBiofuels are actually creating hunger in the world due to large tracts of food production land being turned over to biofuel production - There is nothing green about biofuels when related to the hunger it is creating worldwide.
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