Updates

RHI eligible heat use consultation… a lobbying success

Back in September last year, together with the NFU we responded to the Renewable Heat Incentives (RHI) Consultation on eligible heat, demonstrating strong agreement with other trade associations such as the Renewable Energy Association.

The NFU has said “Drying is a legitimate part of the agricultural processing of food and animal feed products, where it may be required for reasons of food safety, quality and to meet contractual obligations on moisture content – sometimes under challenging ambient environmental conditions.”

Conservation arisings... a plentiful sustainable biomass resource

In the UK many of our heathland and wetland sites are routinely managed to preserve these unique habitats. This provides a big opportunity for the biomass sector as the harvested plant material could be used as a renewable fuel. This material, termed conservation arisings, is potentially a huge resource as there is currently over 4 million hectares of this type of land in the UK and much of the biomass is burnt in situ.

Government launches two new grant schemes for rural business

Two new grant funds were launched yesterday from the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE), seeking to help support agricultural and rural business under the Countryside Productivity scheme.

The first is the Improving Farm Productivity grant, which has a deadline of the 3 December 2018 for applications. This seeks to fund projects that can be finished and grant claims submitted by 31 December 2020. Grant items included in the handbook are:

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