Snetterton straw burning power station

[Bald Rick]

Yawn. You could always pay £110 / acre for it. Plenty left farms last year for £30 / acre.

Edit......copied from elsewhere on the forum...

Farming chiefs left ‘flabbergasted’ by Eustice comments

We never seen to get a decent politician who understands our industry. It's very disappointing when the current idiot has the right credentials, it actually makes his bilge more believable. I actually thought John Gummer did a reasonable job although I wasn't particularly politically astute...

thefarmingforum.co.uk

You're missing my point which is the morality of burning a product that could be usefully used in the livestock industry just because it's backed by government subs. ... which is lunatic when we have a government that has legislated to be "carbon neutral" by 2050 or sooner.

We pay whatever we have to (& look elsewhere for alternatives too) but I am happy to pay you 16th C prices for your "waste" if you want a deal?

 

[Bald Rick]

Do arable farmers get milk etc at a discount?

We would be willing to work on a contra with slurry (which was, like straw, often considered a by product) but I suspect haulage would be an issue!
Probably end up growing our own straw based crops going forward

 

[7610 super q]

You're missing my point which is the morality of burning a product that could be usefully used in the livestock industry just because it's backed by government subs. ... which is lunatic when we have a government that has legislated to be "carbon neutral" by 2050 or sooner.

We pay whatever we have to (& look elsewhere for alternatives too) but I am happy to pay you 16th C prices for your "waste" if you want a deal?

Folks have the right to sell straw to whoever they want. We all have to make a living. There's never been a shortage of straw in the UK AFAIK. Not even in 2020.
It's not all about dairy farmers don't ya know......

 

[Widgetone]

Possibly wrong thread, but what is the latest re applying sewage sludge/pellets. Used to be banned for use on barley land..

 

[Bald Rick]

Folks have the right to sell straw to whoever they want. We all have to make a living.
It's not all about dairy farmers don't ya know......

Well of course but burning biomass on an industrial scale may be coming to an end in any case as I believe government has finally woken up to the fact that it's highly carbon positive.

 

[Still Farming]

The questionable morality of burning straw when livestock are going to be short of feed/bedding is staggering

About time these burner stations were taken off line. How the government can square burning wood or straw as being, at best, carbon neutral is beyond me.

Anyway, I thought you arable boys were going to chop & incorporate to maintain soil biota?





(Psst, I pay between £90-100/t in my yard currently and we use a lot .......... PM me for a deal)

Better to use locally than Russian wood pellets , Foreign oil, gas or Chinese Nuclear Power possibly.

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

Well of course but burning biomass on an industrial scale may be coming to an end in any case as I believe government has finally woken up to the fact that it's highly carbon positive.

It's not though, straw uses carbon from the atmosphere in the year it's grown. It's not mined and then burnt. The same as your cows only breathe out carbon from their feed.

 

[Bald Rick]

It's not though, straw uses carbon from the atmosphere in the year it's grown. It's not mined and then burnt. The same as your cows only breathe out carbon from their feed.

Straw maybe (but they probably would not get anywhere near enough to sustain a plant like Drax) but woodchip is off the scale and so is under review ...... albeit Ukraine has thrown a very large spanner in any sort of power generation and I suspect that the review will quietly be swept under the carpet and we will carry on importing millions of tonnes of US/Canadian woodchip to burn for the foreseeable

 

[Hindsight]

How about farmers growing what they need to stay in business?

How about British sugar encouraging poor health and obesity while beet growers damage their soils?

How about malting barley or grapes being grown to produce alcohol?

How about wheat going into ethanol plants?

The sad fact is that very few crops pay that well. If they did no one would sell any straw.

Food isn't short just yet. Crops going to produce fuel has been one of the main things keeping farmers in business.

The Bush government introduced the ethanol mandate to maintain the republican vote in corn states of the mid west.

 

[Hindsight]

You're missing my point which is the morality of burning a product that could be usefully used in the livestock industry just because it's backed by government subs. ... which is lunatic when we have a government that has legislated to be "carbon neutral" by 2050 or sooner.

We pay whatever we have to (& look elsewhere for alternatives too) but I am happy to pay you 16th C prices for your "waste" if you want a deal?

I have railed against the practice for years. Beggar livestock, should be chopped and returned as organic matter. We have the Rio conference mrs thatchers commitment to climate change policies and the 1990 non fossil fuel order to thank. Which coincided with the ban on straw burning, and arable farmers considering straw a waste product. Hey ho.

 

[Bald Rick]

I have railed against the practice for years. Beggar livestock, should be chopped and returned as organic matter. We have the Rio conference mrs thatchers commitment to climate change policies and the 1990 non fossil fuel order to thank. Which coincided with the ban on straw burning, and arable farmers considering straw a waste product. Hey ho.

But it's an even better product when mixed with poo & turned into FYM.

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

I have railed against the practice for years. Beggar livestock, should be chopped and returned as organic matter. We have the Rio conference mrs thatchers commitment to climate change policies and the 1990 non fossil fuel order to thank. Which coincided with the ban on straw burning, and arable farmers considering straw a waste product. Hey ho.

I agree it should be returned to the soil.

The problem is the demand for energy means something must be burnt.

Amidst all the howling about rising energy prices, there's very little mention of anyone using less.

 

[DaveGrohl]

The problem is the demand for energy means something must be burnt.

This is tumbleweed for the current generation of politicians who are desperate to fall at the feet of the minority pressure groups. They honestly seem to believe that every problem can be solved by planting a few trees. We are living in a time where no one wants to look at the various elephants in the room. And they’re getting bigger and bigger.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Trading straw by the acre is madness , needs to be by the ton or not at all.

If a contractor baled 2000 acres and carts it to a shed on the farm then not that easy, better by the bale

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

This is tumbleweed for the current generation of politicians who are desperate to fall at the feet of the minority pressure groups. They honestly seem to believe that every problem can be solved by planting a few trees. We are living in a time where no one wants to look at the various elephants in the room. And they’re getting bigger and bigger.

But planting trees if they are burning woodchip at least has some logic to it and they do soak up carbon.

 

[Bald n Grumpy]

back in the 80's and 90's most straw was burned in field or chopped...in 1985 on my sandwich year in worcs we burnt 600 acs....and the whole area around was burnt to.....i can't work out why straw is suddenly so short

Sort of answered your own question imo, straw is a lot shorter than it used to be because of variety changes and spraying with shortener, but I'm only a lowly stock farmer and I'm sure one of the arable boys will be along to correct my thinking

 

[Derrick Hughes]

A lot of straw goes in cow diets , in the 70ts we only bought straw for calving pens and a bit for calves

 

[roscoe erf]

Does anyone know who buys the straw for this .looked online but can’t find anyone.heard they are paying £100 acre fir straw this year but would like to find out for sure.
nick…

On my Weighbridge tickets it says Eastern fuels Ltd

 

[roscoe erf]

back in the 80's and 90's most straw was burned in field or chopped...in 1985 on my sandwich year in worcs we burnt 600 acs....and the whole area around was burnt to.....i can't work out why straw is suddenly so short

Because it’s now burnt in power stations at a greater amount then we burnt in the 80’s

 

[Hjcarter]

The problem is the demand for energy means something must be burnt.

What about witches, you never hear about them being burned any more - there must be a stack of them squirreled away somewhere!!

Don't know the carbon footprint of one though, must depend on size and weight!!