There are hardly any places where you can see different biomass crops growing next to eachother. This is one of the reasons why the Biomass Connect hub sites at 8 locations across the UK are so valuable as they have 11 differnt biomass crops pitted against eachother in close proximity. However, there is one location that was way ahead of the curve. Back in 2015 I helped Matt and Steve Hunt of Bio Global Industries (BGI) source material and plant a number of trials of willow, poplar and Eucalyptus at their small farm in Asheridge, Buckinghamshire.
In 2023, Will Macalpine from Rothamsted Research amd I did caliper measurements on the various crops
We backed this up with some limited destructive harvesting in order to extrapolate the yields. Matt and Steve and the BGI team assisted with the hard graft!
The results were very interesting. Poplar came out on top. Now, there is a caveat to the results. The willow plot should have been harvested in years 3-5 but wasn’t. Therefore, chances are due to the close spacing the willow crops didn’t really grow much in years 5-8. Nevertheless, the yield data is invaluable and shows just what can be achieved in a short time from these productive biomass crops.
This activity was completed with support from the BioForce and Biomass Connect projects which were funded by DESNZ as part of the Biomass Feedstocks Innovation Programme as part of the £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio.
Read the report here: BGI yield figures BIOFORCE
Will Macalpine measuring stem diameters of willow at the BGI site in Asheridge Bucks.
