Perthshire farmer, Thomas Clark NSch 2023, has published his Nuffield Farming report, Gate to Grid: A Responsible Model for Integrated Energy Production, sponsored by the Elizabeth Creak Charitable Trust (a Clyde Higgs Scholarship).
During his Scholarship, Clark travelled to Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Italy, France, Norway, the Netherlands and across the United Kingdom to investigate the opportunities and challenges of integrating renewable energy production into farming systems.
In his report, Thomas wrote, “With the race on for net zero by 2050, agriculture must realise the potential of implementing renewable technologies if it is to stay relevant and operational. Farmers are already in the business of energy production, converting wind, sunlight and moisture into a calorie harvest.
“The calorie output on farm is no different to the potential KW output on farm. Farmers are therefore ideally placed to lead innovation in this field, to not only feed the world but meet its power demands as well.”
Clark investigated solutions that could bring benefits to the agricultural industry. He wrote, “On-farm electricity production can stabilise the price and supply of energy. When looking at agrivoltaics (AV), shading and subsequent moisture retention can be utilised in farming systems to safeguard from future changes in climate.
“The upgrade of the countryside’s connectivity and electrification will allow monitoring technologies and robotics to develop and become more commonplace. Farmers must therefore integrate energy assets on a per hectare basis allowing these new technologies to flourish.
“In the future, finding the correct balance of food, power and biodiversity will create the right environment for technologies to be embraced, enabling a leap forward in farming production and opening the gates for the next agricultural revolution.”
Commenting on a land sparing approach to energy production, Clarke wrote, “Sites often take land out of production for a contract period in the region of 30-40 years. To run a fixed site for this long will inevitably see compaction issues along service routes, a need for chemical weed control as burdens build on the longer-term lays and reinstatement works to revive dormant soils. A much more ethical method of production would be to rotate such infrastructure on a modular basis and create a rotation.”
Key findings:
- As custodians of the land, farmers hold great potential to mitigate climate change through their practices
- Specifically, the implementation of rotational renewables is highly beneficial
- Integrating production systems can bring financial diversification to business, additional area for biodiversity and more opportunities with future technologies
- A balance of land uses in a solid rotation to maintain soil heath and fertility is essential for long term success