New venture set to have big impact

ROSE Energy, the proposed poultry litter to green electricity project backed by Moy Park, O'Kane Poultry, and Glenfarm Holdings, has indicated to Farming Life that the new venture will have a significant impact at farm level across Northern Ireland.

Significantly, Moy Park and O'Kane growers can look forward to having their poultry litter collected at no net cost. Rose Energy director Mike Alcorn has also confirmed that litter will be collected within 24 hours of houses being cleared.

The only commitment required on the part of growers is that of pushing the litter out from the houses, in order to facilitate its collection," he explained.

"Rose Energy should provide a permanent solution to the massive disposal problem for the industry posed by the EU Nitrates Directive. The removal of all poultry litter from land-spread equates to 25 per cent of NI's nitrates and 25-30 per cent of our total phosphates, so it's a very significant thing for all other farmers, removing a lot of pressure from the beef and dairy sectors," he added.

"The new project will remove the direct threat of the directive to the poultrymeat sector and safeguard 7,000 jobs. The alternative would be a dramatic scale-back of production, output, revenue, investment and jobs.