Written evidence
Memorandum submitted by John Amos &
Co
I would like to take the opportunity to comment
upon the new enquiry into alternative crops. My company John Amos
& Co, have been extremely involved in the development of alternative
crops, particularly energy grasses such as Miscanthus, Switch
Grass and Reed Canary Grass and currently have a Farmers' Co-operative
growing in excess of 200 hectares of energy grass and are presently
negotiating contracts which are subject to funding and planning
permission for United Utilities, who wish to build a 20 megawatt
Power Station in Herefordshire (with a renewable crop supply of
70,000 tonnes per annum), and a further unit in Staffordshire
for two megawatt which has the requirement of 1,000 hectares of
energy crops.
In terms of crop already grown we have 30 parcels
of energy crop in Herefordshire and Shropshire extending to something
just over 200 hectares.
The majority of land is being cropped in Miscanthus
and as well as producing straw for energy production, a local
Co-operative of three farmers are developing with some aid through
the Rural Enterprise Scheme the production of rhizomes, which
if the energy grass market is to expand is an absolutely vital
part of the development.
In my mind there is no doubt there will be a
huge benefit from the expanded production of energy crops for
the following reasons:
(1) An increased bio-diversity.
(2) A reduction in CO2 levels taken up by
the plants using CO2 in its growing cycle.
(3) The opportunity through additional labour
need to support existing employment in the countryside in a rural
sector which is extremely vulnerable.
(4) To offer out of season work for agricultural
contractors and hauliers, which will stabilise rural businesses.
(5) To bring non-food income into the rural
economy, which is essential.
Projects such as those in Herefordshire and
Staffordshire present the opportunity for an all encompassing
production chain, which in our plans would be farmer run Co-operatives
that take the contracts with the energy provider, thus using the
strength of co-operation and collaboration within the industry
to develop working relationships in the rural economy.
To encourage production the following moves
would be useful in our view.
(1) The proposals in the Mid Term Review
for agriculture in Europe suggest that energy crops should not
be grown on Set-aside.
This is in the view of the industry a grave
error and by allowing energy crops on Set-aside this will positively
encourage the growing of these crops in preference to 10-year
non-rotational Set-aside which is not acceptable to farmers in
general and will help enormously to kick start this industry.
The energy crops are environmentally friendly
and, therefore, the benefits will be at least as great as leaving
the land in fallow for environmental purposes.
(2) The Establishment Grants under the Energy
Crops Scheme should be made more user friendly. I am aware of
a number of farmers who have not taken up the Energy Crops Scheme
Grant due to the amount of "red tape" that they have
had to plough through to make an application and, for example,
asking the farmer for three years' farm accounts to grow say,
three hectares of Miscanthus, is not in our view appropriate.
(3) The proposal in the Mid Term Review
of the payment of
45 per hectare for growing energy crops should be
picked up on and expanded, whilst making sure that the application
forms for this grant aid is not so complicated to put the farmer
off.
In terms of co-operation and collaboration for
best practice in other countries, we have for the last three years
taken study trips to Denmark to work with their experts there
on Miscanthus and Willow, and have learnt a great deal. The Danish
are extremely open and helpful. Unfortunately, this is not the
case in the UK My own company offered to do training days to the
Energy Crops Network some 12 months ago and we were not allowed
to share our knowledge with potential growers, due to the fact
that we were not Lantra approved.
With respect to the training body, I understand
now that Lantra now use people with little or no experience in
energy crops to lecture but are in their view qualified to train
purely on an academic basis.
I would, I imagine, spend about 300 hours per
annum giving presentations on the growing and development of Miscanthus
and other energy grasses and I feel that knowledge could be much
better used and the short sightedness to restrict the training
to Lantra approved is inappropriate. In my view, when people with
knowledge are prepared to share that knowledge, this should be
supported and not defeated.
I hope that these comments will prove to be
of some help to you and I hope that the energy crops can be developed.
This is an area, which many people in this region are passionate
about, and the farming community needs the opportunity to have
a new champion in their industry.
11 March 2003
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