ENERGY Crops Consultancy have been working with farmers and landowners across the country to enhance their farm mix and take bold new steps towards a more sustainable future ; all while offering additional revenue and supplying local end markets with high-quality woodchip biofuel by growing energy crops such as SRC willow and SRC poplar .

One of those farms is run by the Dixon family ( Terry , Eileen & Thomas ) in Cumbria . Brackenthwaite Farm has been dairy

farmed for over 30 years , with 323ha of predominantly Severely Disadvantaged Area mostly used for dairy , along with a small area of arable too .

The Dixons have long recognised the importance of the relationship between the productivity of a farm and its effect on the environment .

‘ We ’ ve always been very keen on the carbon stuff . We ’ ve planted loads of hedges on the farm . We try to be very environmentally based – we were organic for a while . We try to reduce inputs as much as we can : SRC Willow ticks a lot of boxes !’

They ’ ve striven to encourage biodiversity with the planting of many hedges and for a number of years they were farming their land organically . However , in 2013 , with milk prices becoming extremely volatile , the Dixons returned to traditional dairy farming . This in turn left them with unused land . The high initial costs associated with expanding a dairy herd made Terry start looking for other ways of using this surplus land . In 2015 , Terry met Neil Watkins of Energy Crops Consultancy at a farmers ’

club . He was very impressed with Neil ’ s knowledge of the exciting new farming model of SRC Willow plantations .

Terry says : ‘ As soon as he mentioned that SRC Willow could produce profits of £ 230 to £ 260 p / acre per a year , my ears pricked up ! Since we ’ ve planted it on land that wasn ’ t really producing anything , I think it could produce even more !’

Following their meeting , Neil took Terry to visit sites that had already planted SRC Willow . When the Dixons took the decision to plant SRC Willow , Neil was on hand to assist Terry and Eileen in choosing the areas of their land best suited to SRC Willow and selecting the right Willow varieties . As a result of Neil ’ s consultations , Terry has now planted a total of 40 HA of willow .

This combination of perennial energy crops alongside arable and dairy farming benefits their overall farm mix , where

food-growing land is protected and enhanced with the addition of growing SRC Willow . Terry has been very impressed with the progress so far .

‘ It ’ s really a low-cost way of farming – maybe we should convert the whole farm !’

He now has his own self-sufficient supply of virgin willow woodchip to power his 1MW biomass boiler which he uses for drying grass , barley and bedding , Terry has been really pleased the quality from his willow wood crop , and claims it is a much better biofuel compared to what he was using previously . Brackenthwaite Farm is now in a position to see surplus land returned to profitability . The long life span of an SRC Willow plantation 30 years plus means that the next 25 years will give excellent profit yields .

P34-21-2--PR-Farmers Mart