ARABLE 39
• FEB / MAR 2018
Beet with AD potential fares well in UK trials
NEW varieties of high dry matter energy-dense beet now available in the UK are making the crop more viable as a feedstock for anaerobic digestion( AD).
So says Francis Dunne of Field Options, who points to the latest UK trials where new varieties have excelled and demonstrated their potential for the renewable energy sector.
Independent fodder beet trials carried out in Cambridgeshire in 2017 compared the performance of 14 leading varieties from five different breeders, encompassing the full range of beet types from low dry matter( fodder beet for grazing) through to very high dry matter types.
“ Clean lifting, very high dry matter beet is one of the most efficient feedstocks available for AD,” says Francis Dunne.“ Optimising yield of the crop further increases gas yield per hectare.”
Field Options provides expertise and access to varieties across the full range of beet, from low dry matter fodder beet for grazing through to very high dry matter energy beet for both livestock feed and AD plants.
Environmental policy and food production must go hand in hand
ARABLE 39
Farming and the environment must go together and producing quality, home-grown food is critical to the future of the country, the NFU said today.
IT follows publication of the Government’ s 25-year Environmental Plan. Theresa May revealed details of the long-awaited and wide-ranging 150-page strategy during a keynote speech in south-west London.
Farmers manage 70 % of the nation’ s iconic countryside and take their environmental responsibilities seriously. 10,000 football pitches worth of flower habitat, creating homes for wildlife, have been planted while more than 30,000km of hedgerows have been planted or restored by farmers.
The NFU says farming is in a unique position to deliver for the environment as long as there are productive and viable businesses – where food is at the heart.
NFU Vice President Guy Smith said:“ Over the past four decades, farmers have carried out a huge amount of work to encourage wildlife, as well as benefitting the landscape, soil and water and reducing their impact on the climate.
“ Farming also offers innovative solutions to wider environmental challenges.
“ But there must be a coherent approach. British farming has a unique role in producing a safe, affordable and high quality supply of food as well as protecting, maintaining and enhancing 70 % of the nation’ s iconic countryside.
“ That only remains feasible, however, as long as farmers run sustainable and viable businesses. We provide the raw materials for a domestic food industry that employs 3.8m people and which, as the UK’ s largest manufacturing sector, generates £ 112bn in value for the UK economy..
“ It’ s vital therefore that a holistic approach is taken and the environment plan must go hand-in-hand with a future food policy, where measures for protecting and enhancing the environment are joined up with policies to improve productivity and manage volatility to ensure that we have profitable, productive and progressive farm businesses post-Brexit.”
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