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Know How / Farm energy

Get advice on diversifying into the farm energy sector or using farm-generated renewable energy to cut energy costs. Find out how to maximise anaerobic digestion (AD) plant performance, lease land for battery and generator sites, and grow crops for the biofuels market.

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Practical advice

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BUSINESS

Business Clinic: Should I let land to a solar developer?

Martin Williams, energy associate at Carter Jonas, answers a question on being approached by a solar developer. He explains what the developer is looking for, how to know if your…

DIVERSIFICATION

How electric vehicle charging sites can benefit farmers

The Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution, published late last year, sets out the government’s approach to accelerating the UK’s path to net-zero emissions. This includes a commitment…

FARM ENERGY

Is there still a future in AD plants for UK farmers?

Despite challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the UK anaerobic digester (AD) sector grew by 11% in the year to April 2021, according to National Non-Food Crops Centre (NNFCC) figures.…

BUSINESS CLINIC

Business Clinic: Help needed with solar FiT payments muddle

Whether you have a legal, tax, insurance, management or land issue, Farmers Weekly’s Business Clinic experts can help. Helen Melling, senior energy specialist at Carter Jonas, advises on a complex…

BUSINESS CLINIC

Business Clinic: Could solar farm cause damage to our land?

Whether you have a legal, tax, insurance, management or land issue, Farmers Weekly’s Business Clinic experts can help. Tom Hilton, senior energy specialist at Carter Jonas, discusses the issue of decommissioning…

BUSINESS

Business Clinic: Selling farm with solar and buildings leases

Whether you have a legal, tax, insurance, management or land issue, Farmers Weekly’s Business Clinic experts can help. Here, Andrew Chandler of Carter Jonas advises on farm sale considerations when…

Case studies

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SLURRY AND MANURE MANAGEMENT

How a dairy farm is using a straw dryer to reduce waste

Farmer Jonny Wyatt is using waste heat from the anaerobic digester (AD) plant on his mixed farm near Thetford, Norfolk, to dry out-of-spec straw to make drier bedding for his…

LIVESTOCK

How a dairy farm is using renewables to reduce fixed costs

An anaerobic digester (AD) plant, changes in cropping and cultivations, and a growing range of electric farm machinery are all helping Stephen Temple reduce fixed costs at Copys Green Farm,…

POULTRY

How free-range egg unit slashed bills with solar electricity

When June and Frank Armstrong’s power supply company quoted a figure of £150,000 to hook up their new poultry shed to the mains electricity network, it forced a rethink. The…

FARM ENERGY

How a dairy farmer cut electricity costs by £2,000 a year

Suffolk dairy farmer Jonny Crickmore has reduced electricity costs by almost £2,000 annually using energy from an unexpected source – the bedding in the cow shed. Fen Farm’s expansion into…

MACHINERY

Moscha swivel spreader - a cheaper option to dribble bars

Setting up an energy plant along with all the kit to go with it takes some Brexit-style negotiating with the bank, but Edd Mowbray found a Leicestershire farmer who does…

FARM ENERGY

Shropshire farm sees solar heating payback

It is four years since one of the UK’s largest commercial solar thermal hot water systems, a 192kWth array to supply heat for rearing game birds, was installed for JE…

Insights

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FARM ENERGY

High prices create opportunity for renewable energy contracts

Sharp rises in gas and electricity prices may have been unwelcome for most, but for those generating renewable energy, it has increased potential returns from electricity sales.  Prices are very…