Farming in the Community

 

Broadley Copse Farm  is based on Basil Baird’s 2,500 acre arable and pig farm in Funtington, West Sussex where pigs have been reared for 50 years.

 

Farm Renewables, a renewable energy development company, worked with the farm to develop the on-site anaerobic digestion (AD) plant to meet the demands of an expanding farm business - the sheer volume of pig manure presented a problem to the farmer. The on-site AD plant offered an opportunity to make use of the large quantities of manure for generating electricity with the by-product being used back on the arable land, benefiting the soil by adding nutrients to replace bagged fertiliser.

 

The project build was completed in 2018: producing green energy - 85% of which is sold to the grid and the remainder used to power the farm and the plant itself.