Defra Director General joins Reaseheath in championing green technology

Ways in which Reaseheath College will actively assist farmers to harvest green energy were outlined by Principal Meredydd David at a high level conference on anaerobic digestion.

The conference, organised on the college’s Nantwich campus by the Reaseheath Enterprise Delivery Hub, attracted influential speakers including Katrina Williams, Director General of Food and Farming at Defra; Lord Redesdale, Chair of the Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association; Lucy Hopwood, Land and Agriculture Manager of the National Non-Food Crops Centre and Dr. Nina Sweet, organics technical specialist for the Waste and Resources Action Programme.

The event, which was attended by a packed regional audience of farmers and agricultural specialists, covered technical developments and the potential use and commercial value of biogas generated through anaerobic digestion. It also gave delegates a valuable insight into government policies and into the grants and incentives available.

In his opening address, Meredydd underlined the potential of using anaerobic digestion to enhance farming systems and increase income. He also called on technology providers to work closely with the farming industry to develop solutions which would serve livestock farmers.

He went on to urge renewable energy buyers to address pricing to make  investment worthwhile and for Defra to challenge the tariff levels set for renewable energy so that it was economically viable at farm scale.

Meredydd revealed that Reaseheath is taking a practical role in the provision of green energy by building its own anaerobic digestion plant which will demonstrate a range of different solutions for farmers. The college has also been commissioned to map the potential for anaerobic biogas production across Cheshire – a study which hopefully will provide evidence at government level to influence future tariff settings.

Meredydd emphasised that Reaseheath was taking the anaerobic digestion agenda very seriously and that the college would do all in its power to support rural business through the Reaseheath Enterprise Delivery Hub, which receives funding from the North West Regional Development Agency.

He pledged that the Hub will:

• Continue to create forums to ensure open and transparent discussion

• Identify skills gaps where technology and knowledge transfer is required

• Show students and the industry how anaerobic digestion can be integrated into farming systems 

• Use the college’s commercial farm as a test bed for new technologies and developments which would inform farmers and influence policy makers

• Showcase new solutions and give farmers access to the anaerobic plant and the farm manager to discuss live operational issues

For further information contact Reaseheath Enterprise Delivery Hub on 01270 613195