In 2006 Farmer Chris Bradley decided to move into energy crops, as his land was struggling to grow wheat so he started to grow miscanthus and planted it on a hundred acres of his land. Blow-away sand that wouldn’t grow wheat and struggled to deliver seven tons a hectare of any cereal has produced an average 14 t/ha of miscanthus for the past two years meaning just short of £750/ha from Drax power station for a harvesting and baling cost of about £200 a hectare.
“Our older crops have filled in quite well over the years,” he said. “In fact we’ve seen clumps growing out by a good four inches a year. But the establishment deficiencies remain for all to see in gappy, uneven crops. The key thing we have all learnt is that you have to establish right. You’re putting it in for 20 years, so it’s worth doing the job properly, especially since patching doesn’t really work after the first year. Unless you replant a whole area, the original crop shades out the new plants, leaving you little better off.” Read more ...
“Our older crops have filled in quite well over the years,” he said. “In fact we’ve seen clumps growing out by a good four inches a year. But the establishment deficiencies remain for all to see in gappy, uneven crops. The key thing we have all learnt is that you have to establish right. You’re putting it in for 20 years, so it’s worth doing the job properly, especially since patching doesn’t really work after the first year. Unless you replant a whole area, the original crop shades out the new plants, leaving you little better off.” Read more ...
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