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Horticulture Shut Out of the UK’s New Energy Relief Scheme
The UK government recently announced a significant electricity cost reduction for around 10,000 manufacturing businesses, framed as a major boost to industrial competitiveness. For energy-intensive manufacturers, the relief is real and substantial. However, despite facing some of the highest energy costs of any productive sector in the UK economy, horticulture has been left out. What…
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Geothermal energy and storage
There is a lot of thermal mass in the ground, allowing the temperature to remain stable at around 10°C at depths as shallow as 1m. Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHPs) use this consistent temperature to maintain a high seasonal efficiency. As depths increase, that stable temperature tends higher due to nuclear decay of materials deep…
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New Farming Innovation Programme funding for growers
DEFRA recently announced two new funding competitions under the Farming Innovation Programme (FIP) opening this Autumn for farmers and growers. Firstly, there is Small R&D Partnerships (Round 4) – worth £7.8 million – and secondly is Feasibility Studies (Round 4) – worth £4.8 million. Both grant opportunities are focused on innovative projects but at different…
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Robotics & Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Horticulture
Introduction It seems that one cannot attend a conference or read a trade publication without hearing the terms ‘robotics’ or ‘artificial intelligence’. Although their overuse occasionally enters buzzword territory, there is genuine innovation happening in the sector with value which is worth exploring. Broadly, Robotics refers to physical systems designed to carry out tasks with…
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CHP Future Landscape in Horticulture
Introduction – why do we use CHP? Combined Heat and Power (CHP) is common in UK horticulture, and with good reason; each of the outputs of heat, electricity, and CO2 are useful. Having an electricity generation asset provides a lot of resilience and versatility in how a site can provide heat, light, and CO2 to…
