Call for grants rethink
The National Sheep Association (NSA) has called on policy makers to review the impacts grant structures designed to encourage the production of renewable energy are having on traditional enterprises - and the wider rural economy.
Stating that such crops received “dual funding” – as they were supported under both the farm support scheme and the financial incentives for Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCS) and Feed in Tariffs (Fits), he said this approach led to considerable distortions in existing markets.
Repeating long-term concerns over the pressures anaerobic digestion plants and largescale biomass burners had placed on the sheep sector – the organisation said the recent extreme weather had exacerbated the situation.
NSA chief executive, Phil Stocker, said: “Forage stocks were completely used up during the harsh winter we experienced, but instead of being able to rebuild stores, the dry weather means sheep farmers are already using winter feeds to sustain flocks due to a shortage of grass.”
He said that with feed and bedding shortages, costs were rocketing:
“Yet potential feed stock, cereals, maize and grass, as well as straw for biomass, is dedicated to energy production. “
Stocker said if land being cropped for AD plants had been growing crops for food and livestock feed, there would be fewer concerns over the risk of winter feed shortages which now looked “all but certain”: “That is why NSA is calling for a rethink around incentives for AD plants and large-scale biomass burners.”