Tractor running on cow manure best in field as green machine

THE world’s first manure-powered tractor has been unveiled by a British firm in a move that could prompt a green revolution on farms.

The New Holland T7 tractor fuelled by slurry could lead the way in helping farms become “energy-independent” and “carbon-neutral”.

Its Cornish maker Bennamann claims that the tractor matches the performance standards of its diesel equivalent at a time when the Government is putting pressure on farms to decarbonise.

Chris Mann, co-founder of Bennamann, said: “The T7 liquid methanefuelled tractor is a genuine world-first and another step towards decarbonising the global agricultural industry and realising a circular economy.”

The tractor is powered by capturing the methane from cow manure – called “fugitive methane” – then treating and compressing the gas for use as liquid fuel. Its cryogenic fuel tank keeps the methane as a liquid at minus 162°C.

The technology has the potential to combat climate change by removing large amounts of methane from the atmosphere, which “has more than 80 times the atmospheric warming power of carbon dioxide over 20 years”, Mr Mann said.

Gilles Mayer, of New Holland, said: “A 150-cow farm would balance the CO2 emissions of 140 households in the UK per year.”

He said that the tractor was currently limited to using cow and pig manure but New Holland was working to expand the fuel’s source to other livestock manure such as that of poultry.

Last year, Bennamann conducted a pilot study in Cornwall in which the T7 prototype-tractor reduced its carbon emissions from 2,500 to 500 tons without sacrificing performance against its diesel alternative.