Please Explain The Logic of Growing Crops for AD Plants ?

[bluebell]

maybe im a bit naive, but i could see the point of say using waste food, rubbish or offal, to use to produce so called green energy ? but good quality arable land ? i say this because of the total faisco thats happening to my neighbours farm? guess who that is down here in raining essex?

 

[unlacedgecko]

I'm fuked if I can

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Hes doing you more good than harm

 

[bluebell]

yeah hes doing plenty of good? putting mud on the road, destroying the road surface, not alone the total eyesore to the village, it certainly gives farming a good name to the local population?

 

[bluebell]

oh an i forgot blocking all the road drains up? thats good while it pouring down?

 

[sjt01]

Our digester is partly fuelled by crop, but if I was going to put a digester in now, it would purely be for manures and waste silage. Since we put ours in 11 years ago, solar has come on so much, and with battery storage solar can produce around 10 times as much energy per acre. If I was to do our digester again, and probably will do when the FITs run out, is to run it at half output on wastes, with a bigger gasholder, and only output when we need heat or solar panels are not generating. It would need a bigger gasholder, but that's about all.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

yeah hes doing plenty of good? putting mud on the road, destroying the road surface, not alone the total eyesore to the village, it certainly gives farming a good name to the local population?

Why should it be any different than if he had 2000 cows on site . Im not defending his mess ,but its should be no different too a big livestock farm , unless i am missing something .

 

[ajd132]

yeah hes doing plenty of good? putting mud on the road, destroying the road surface, not alone the total eyesore to the village, it certainly gives farming a good name to the local population?

I genuinely think some of this AD stuff is ruining the image of farming for many consumers. Heard so many horror stories.

 

[SilliamWhale]

The logic is you don't have to use "fossil fuels" for production of electricity and heat thereby it reduces GHG emissions. That is the reason behind the policy.

 

[7610 super q]

It's a market for crops, which frankly aren't wanted elsewhere.....

 

[Derrick Hughes]

It's a market for crops, which frankly aren't wanted elsewhere.....

But farmers dont think like that , every farmer on every acre should be producing ir its 'Get off that Land ! give someone else a go at competing with me "

 

[primmiemoo]

The logic is you don't have to use "fossil fuels" for production of electricity and heat thereby it reduces GHG emissions. That is the reason behind the policy.

Which is why the crop uproots itself, forms orderly ranks, and perambulates to the digester unit at precisely the right rate for the process to be most efficient.

'Stonishing, this plant breeding technology, nowadays.

 

[Cowslip]

I believe it was originally grown for beef cattle and company went bust! Not fair to blame the owner of the land for selling it he is only trying to get some of his money owed back.

 

[Boysground]

I have 2 digesters near me. No crops into either just food waste. My uneducated view says it must be the better way. Charge for waste to come in sell the electric and maybe one day sell digestate.

bg

 

[Princess Pooper]

The logic is that in most cases there is some sort of base feedstock such as animal slurry or human sewage, but it the AD is like a rumen it need the right mix to work effectively, so other stocks needed to balance. So as long as the sums add up, the owner of the AD unit either grows their own or pays someone else to. Don't forget that as well as energy and possibly renewable payments, they are getting digestate out which is valuable fertiliser.

The AD offer is pretty important to our renewables mix as is can consistently generate so provides a baseline level of energy - not as variable as wind or solar.

 

[DRC]

what are we supposed to grow . More wheat and barley , thus depressing the price. OSR gets eaten by flea beetle , grass is a limited market with government wanting to reduce meat consumption . Sugar beet, they closed the factory .
It’s been a very wet year, which has made it difficult harvesting maize, potatoes , carrots etc, so people want to ban everything .

 

[ollie989898]

AD, (a bit like wind turbines and solar power) was a push made by the UK government, and indeed governments across Europe because they saw a way of using agricultural output to bring more grid capacity online. For decades the UK government and many others have vacillated about long term energy policy as several nettles had to be grasped and none of them were politically acceptable. Nuclear power has remaining questions and strong opposition in addition to the political hand grenade of waste storage. Wind and solar power aren't that popular either and their long term contribution is questionable. Coal is an ugly duckling but does employ a lot of people.

AD suffers from none of the above. Make electricity from clean gas and use it to dispose of wastes, unwanted agricultural crops and the like. IT was shoved into most of Europe because it was cheap and 24/7 reliable and it was basically a form of agricultural support for the Eastern Bloc. I've seen huge AD units on the continent all funded by EU money which was brought about because the EU insisted that they shut their old Soviet-style nuclear reactors or old school coal plants.

Does it make any sense? Long term agricultural can switch to using HVO instead of diesel and be totally 100% carbon free. Burning gas for electricity is mental but until someone grasps tidal power or nuclear reactors it is a good interim measure.

 

[Shep]

Anything that reduces the amount of milk, beef, lamb, veg, cereal that has to find a home and compete with itself is ok by me.

 

[bluebell]

is there anycommonsense left ? pack up farming altogether in the UK rewild it and import all the food ? thats not me saying it but, im quoting from someone whos supposed to know it all ? like dredging in the somerset levels?

 

[bluebell]

im a local for my sins and also a livestock farmer so i try hard to see both sides, the farming side and the general publics side ? but when you get some individual that causes all sorts of mess and damage on the public hyway and its not excusable for bringing in the publics food it gets a bit much ? farmers im afraid are their own worst enemy?