News that the Government will launch a review of Feed-in Tariffs (FIT) for small scale anaerobic digestion (AD) in January has been described as a possible ‘lifeline’ by the NFU and comes after a sustained period of united industry lobbying.
The NFU believes that small-scale AD plants allow more dairy and livestock units to manage manure and slurry more efficiently by creating energy through residues, which in turn benefits the environment. The joined-up lobbying calls arose because of concerns that the FIT policy would trigger a 20 per cent tariff reduction for small-scale AD.
The review, announced by energy minister Greg Barker, comes after lobbying by the NFU alongside the renewable energy association, anaerobic digestion and biogas association, CLA, national non-food crops centre and royal agricultural society of England.
NFU chief renewables adviser, Dr Jonathan Scurlock said: “We are delighted that the minister has listened to the calls of a united industry. Anaerobic digestion can be a really valuable tool for small farms that have to manage manure and slurry from livestock.
“The review of the Feed-in Tariff is a welcome development and will be a potential lifeline for farmers who would not have been able to develop AD plants had the current plans remained as they were economically unviable for small farm businesses to implement.”
