SUDDENLY, GROWING oilseed rape in the Borders has become a much more attractive possibility after the country’s biggest purchaser of the crop reached agreement to use facilities at a local storage facility this week.

Oilseed rape growers in Northumberland and the Borders will be able to enjoy improved access to state-of-the-art processing and storage at Coastal Grains, after the company signed a long-term storage deal with United Oilseeds.

The deal, which has seen United Oilseeds negotiate terms for the purchase of 9000 tonnes of storage at Belford, should make additional space available for the region’s harvest. In addition, the site’s modern grain processing facilities will enable farmers to achieve higher premiums from domestic and overseas markets by producing crops that meet the strict contractual specifications of specific customers.

Belford is currently in its second year of a three-year investment plan to significantly increase drying and grain throughput at the site. A total of £2.5m is being spent to increase daily tonnage intake from 3000 tonnes per day to 5500 tonnes/day.

The partnership between Coastal Grain and UO, means that members of the OSR group will also have access to another crop processing and storage facility in the North-east.