Biomass Connect at Groundswell

The Groundswell Festival provides a forum for farmers, growers, and others interested in food production and the environment to learn about the theory and practical applications of regenerative farming systems.

As part of the ongoing campaign to raise awareness of the Biomass Feedstock Innovation (BFI) programme and provide opportunities to help develop the biomass sector, we organised a large marquee to bring the Biomass Connect Knowledge Exchange hub team together with five projects from the BFI programme that are developing innovation in areas such as:

Decision support

• Envirocrops

Breeding and Propagation

• Taeda Tech from University of Surrey,
• Accelerating Willow Breeding and Deployment (AWBD) by Rothamsted Research

Cultivation and Harvesting Technology

• Net Zero Willow – Building innovation robotic planting and harvesting machinery to enable the rapid expansion of the SRC biomass feedstock industry (Willow Energy)

On-Farm processing

• Teesdale Moorland Biomass Project – Gaining value from moorland biomass: novel uses for heather and other upland crops (TEC Ltd)

In addition to these industrial partners, several of the demonstrator hub managers were also on hand to discuss, with visitors, their first-hand experience of the planting and husbandry of the wide range of biomass crops grown at the sites (a range of pot grown examples of these crops were on display at the stand).

Over the course of the two days, stakeholders representing a wide range of the land-based sector visited the stand, including academics, advisory, farmers/ growers, and landscape engineers to discuss topics around decision support, breeding and propagation, cultivation and harvest, and on farm processing.

Notable conversations included the following topics:

Crops for soils improvement and water quality

Australian farmers were surprised to see Eucalyptus being considered as a biomass crop in the UK but were really interested in the potential of biomass crops for soil health improvement.  They had bought an arable farm with soils in poor condition. We discussed the suitability of various crops, mulching, and compost, to increase soil organic carbon and microbial activity and improve soil structure and water management. We also discussed willow cultivation for water quality with people from the Norfolk Rivers Trust.

Education

We met a Swansea University PhD student who is being seconded to the policy team in Welsh government to research farmer attitudes to biomass crops. We introduced the student to the work of Biomass Connect and the wide range of resources available, and invited them to IBERS for a tour and to meet the research team. We hope to work together on changing farming practices that intregrate the benefits of biomass crops into agriculture.

We spoke to a farming and rural skills manager who manages an estate near Ayr in Scotland. He was keen to get biomass crops onto estate grounds and into his teaching programmes.

Supply based

A Scottish feed company were keen to find local biomass suppliers to power their feed plant as part of decarbonising their supply chain.
Consultative

A team of SAC consultants engaged in discussion regarding attitudes of farmers to biomass crops, carbon, and the provision of public services. They were made aware of the up-and-coming event at the SRUC on 10th October. We also discussed the SAC farm management handbook and the potential to update some of the information regarding biomass crops.

Some of the demonstrator hub managers were on hand to discuss their first-hand experience planting and managing biomass crops, with various pot-grown examples on display.