Things to think about

The ADBA, or Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association’s national conference seemed to be a fairly hotticket in London this week. From being an oddity that one spotted on visits to Germany, the increase in AD interest has sparked an increase in the numbers at the conference. Chris Huhne, the former Liberal Democrat climate change secretary in the UK, was on hand to extol the benefits of AD and how it could help the UK become more self-sufficient in energy. Currently, there are 180 agriculture food waste plants in the UK, and there is even the “poo bus” running in Bristol.

So, there is progress on renewables such as AD and biogas, but it’s a matter of getting the right permits, it seems. The definition of waste becomes a bit more fluid when a farmer is using it to fuel his combined heat and power plant on-farm. One farmer told of her frustration in trying for the past two years to get permission to put in a plant. This seems to be fairly common – the government wants people to recycle and reuse more, but can’t seem to figure out how to permit things.

AD projects tend to diversify farming and smoothes some of the volatility within the business, but the challenge is getting the political landscape to keep up with what’s happening on-farm now. Red tape can choke this emerging industry, on-farm and off.