FARMERS in southern England are increasingly growing maize as a feedstock for anaerobic digester power plants.

Somerset grower Nick Bragg recently hosted a Syngenta Maize Agronomy workshop where he reported that SY Nordicstar had been his best performing maize variety last year – and that the bulk of his 300 hectares would be devoted to the variety this season.

The digester dietician for South Petherton farm uses Nick’s maize silage as feedstock for the 2.5 Mwh AD plant, along with a blended mix including whole-crop rye, fodder beet, whey and poultry litter from the farm and other local growers.

“The feedstock for the AD plant is every bit as important as a dairy cow’s diet,” said Nick. “To perform efficiently and produce the maximum energy output it needs absolute consistency of the feedstock going in.”

The digester is fed every hour, with the feedstock spending a minimum of 56 days circulating in the fermentation tank to release methane. The combined heat and power generating plant is planned to supply all the future energy for the expanding on-farm poultry production operation.