A biomass crops road trip with Professor Tim Volk

Kevin Lindegaard from Biomass Connect and Envirocrops recently took Professor Tim Volk (SUNY College, US) on a tour of Biomass Connect Demonstrator Hubs and BFI Innovation projects. It sounds as though Tim was able to see plenty of examples of the work Biomass Connect is doing and packed a lot into the few days he was here. You can read Kevin’s account of the visit below:

Envirocrops going global

Tim Volk’s bid for the US DoE funding has been successful – so that means (contract negotiations pending) that there will be a mini version of the Biomass Feedstocks Innovation project Envirocrops in the United States.

Watch this space for more updates.

Net Zero Willow

We began in Carlisle spending a day with Jamie Rickerby of Willow Energy who leads the Net Zero Willow (NZW) project. Jamie’s ambitious venture involves the creation of several machines for multiplying, planting and harvesting willow. Jamie and I had been to SUNY in 2023 as part of an Anglo-Irish knowledge-sharing visit where we made presentations to Tim and colleagues from the US and Canada. At that point, Jamie had some lovely diagrams of his space-age-looking machines. They looked great on paper and in his slide presentation. Now, 18 months on, Jamie was able to unveil his autonomous robot in the factory setting of his sub-contractor, Systems Hydraulics.

I have been involved in the NZW project from the start and have often said that Jamie’s kit is akin to a giant leap from the 18^th century to the 21^st century. Tim admitted that when he saw the diagrams he was a bit sceptical about how achievable the concept was but was suitably impressed with how much had been achieved in such a short time. Although Tim wasn’t able to see the machinery working in the field (due to two of the iterated robot prototypes being rebuilt and the modified tracked forage harvester with integrated bunker still awaiting delivery from Switzerland) he was completely sold on the concepts, the build quality and the craftsmanship involved. Later that week, during the Biomass Connect postcard activity, which involved asking delegates to say what one short and long-term activity they were going to do for the industry, Tim stated that his aim was to try and unlock a funding pot so that he could get additional NZW units built and shipped to the US. This is a huge endorsement for Jamie’s kit. Fingers crossed! During his talk at the Biomass Connect Showcase Tim also commented “that most improvements are incremental but the development of this machinery represented a step change”.

Biomass Connect demo site and AWBD trials at Cockle Park

Next, we headed across the country to the east to Morpeth. As road trips go, the A69 doesn’t have quite the same degree of romance as Route 66! For this part of the tour, we would be joined by Will Macalpine of Rothamsted Research.

On the morning of day 2, we visited the Biomass Connect demonstrator site at Cockle Park. This site run by Newcastle University, is one of eight around the country that includes 11 different biomass crop types enabling farmers to compare and contrast what crops are doing well in different parts of the country, with different soils and climates. Will and colleagues from Newcastle University (Gavin Hall and Rachel Chapman) showed us around. When you are so deeply involved in a project, it’s sometimes easy to forget just how big an effort was involved in getting these demo sites planted. Tim was quite forthright in his views, saying he didn’t know of anything like this and on this scale in the world. He added that having spent so much time and money getting this resource established, that it would be a catastrophe if follow up funding was not found to keep it going. It meant a lot to Will and the team to hear this.

Whilst we were at the Cockle Park site, Will also showed Tim around the Accelerated Willow Breeding and Deployment (AWBD) training population for genomic selection. The AWBD project is led by Rothamsted Research, and this trial (one of four Training Populations around the UK) contains 560 unique willow genotypes. Within each Training Population there are four replicates and the AWBD team are “phenotyping” i.e. sampling and measuring each individual plot for yield components, physiological attributes, and assessing pests and diseases. This is an enormous undertaking and incredibly valuable in helping to enable genomic selection, which will ultimately shave 6 years off the willow breeding timeline. As a fellow, former willow breeder I had to express my admiration for the breadth and scale of this workload. Tim agreed. We were almost shaking our heads at the number of individual stems that would need measuring with callipers at 55 cm height – finger numbing and back-breaking field work, but oh so important to get a non-destructive estimate of yield. As with the Biomass Connect sites, we all concurred that the value to science and the willow industry from these trials is immense. The impact will certainly increase as markets develop for the versatile willow crop.

Headley Hall

We travelled further south to another Biomass Connect site – Headley Hall near Tadcaster which is managed by NIAB where we were joined by site staff Stewart Ritchie and Kizito Msekiwa. Both Headley Hall and Cockle Park are former arable sites but are quite different in yield potential. At Cockle Park, the plants are growing well, but at Headley Hall the growth rates (particularly of the willow and poplar) look exceptional. Without seeing both sites in a matter of a few hours it would be hard to believe that both were planted within days of each other and have had almost identical management protocols to control weeds etc.  The contrast in performance accentuated the value of these trials and how they are a real asset to a farmer picking the right crop for their land. This firmed up Tim’s view that the Biomass Connect hub sites are “world class” and “world leading”. I think we all had a smile on our faces when he said that.

Biomass Connect Showcase

We then travelled further south to the Slate at Warwick University, the venue for two great days at the Biomass Connect Showcase. Here Tim was able to hear about the other BFI projects and meet more of the Lot 1 project teams. He also did a presentation called Letters from America – Reflections on willow production in the US. As he concluded his talk, he also reflected on what he had seen so far on his tour. This was really valuable as our DESNZ funders also got to hear the same enthusiastic things that Tim had been saying to me and colleagues all week.

Envirocrops and Hillsborough

Several of the BFI projects want to reach out beyond our shores and be replicated elsewhere. That is definitely the case with Envirocrops – a web app for helping farmers make decisions about what crops to grow where. This project is led by AFBI based in Northern Ireland and is the project that I am most involved with. We have created a framework that can be used anywhere in the world that grows biomass crops. It’s a great export opportunity.

Tim was very quick off the mark in seeing the possibility of developing a US version of Envirocrops. Together with colleagues in Canada he is heading up a proposal to the US Department of Energy on willow as a feedstock for Sustainable Aviation Fuels and invited Envirocrops to be part of the bid. As is often said “Imitation is the highest form of flattery” so we were only too glad to accept. We had been expecting to hear news of the outcome at the end of October. Whilst Tim was in the country the US election was decided, and we’ve still had no news which might indicate a change in direction from the new administration and President in waiting. We hope not.

I then passed the hospitality baton on to my colleagues from AFBI in Northern Ireland , Chris Johnston and Callum Williams who hosted Tim for a couple of days the following week. Whilst there, Tim saw another Biomass Connect hub site, various willow trials that include some American varieties, the biomass district heating system fuelled by willow and biogas from an anaerobic digester. He also visited projects demonstrating the use of willows as a waste water management system and buffer strips for intercepting nitrogen and phosphorus run off from entering the river catchment.

Furthermore, due to current interest in the potential of using willow as a feed supplement to reduce methane emissions from ruminants, Tim kindly advised and contributed to discussions on how up-coming grazing trials could be constructed. AFBI has approximately 10 ha of SRC willow and some of this has been harvested this winter ready for potential grazing late spring / early summer 2025.

All in all, it was a great trip. Tim enjoyed seeing all the good work we are doing here, and it was rewarding for us to accommodate such a knowledgeable and sympathetic visitor. We’re already planning our next trips – me to Syracuse in 2025 and Tim coming back over to see what happens next in 2026!