JF Temple and Son
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Farmer’s green power grab
gains ground A North Norfolk dairy farmer is on a campaign to replace diesel with electric power. Judith Tooth reports.
Cruso & Wilkin are pleased to support J. F. Temple & Son
in their diversification, and continue to offer advice to Farmers and Landowners for a variety of
alternative land uses.
01553 691691
reception@crusowilkin.co.uk
Waterloo Street, King's Lynn, Norfolk, PE30 1NZ
W
hen Stephen Temple in- stalled a biogas plant at Copys Green Farm
in 2009, it was only the 30th to be registered in the country, and the fi rst to get the renewable heat in- centive. It’s a good way of generat- ing electricity, he says, particular- ly if you can make use of the heat as well as the electricity – but that doesn’t seem to happen very often. “Our plant supplies heat to the dairy for parlour washing and warm drinking water for the cows, for cheese production, grain dry- ing, the farmhouse and three cot- tages, and this year we’ve added heating in the farm workshop. “With the electricity generat- ed we’ve replaced the old farm van and our diesel car with two elec- tric cars – a longer range Nissan Leaf and a Tesla. We also have a Husqvarna electric lawnmower, and run our irrigation pump on electricity rather than diesel. We used to run the beet chopper off
56 ANGLIA FARMER • JUNE 2017
the tractor, but now plug it into a three-phase socket. Next I’d like to get an electric loader. “I think the way forward is for farmers to have their own small bi- ogas plants. It’s the way it’s gone in Germany, but it’s true, there is a heavy capital cost.”
Tariff regime
The plant is fed with slurry from the dairy herd, poorer quality maize silage from the edges of the clamp, whey as a by-product of cheese production, and chopped energy beet not used by the cows. A change to the tariff regime means new plants cannot be 100 per cent crop fed, but will have to use at least 50 per cent waste. Stephen, who chairs the Maize
Growers’ Association, is establish- ing maize with strip tillage to re- duce energy use and improve soil conservation. This has cut estab- lishment costs by 75 per cent, but the success of the technique is
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