OMENZ is £3.3 million government-funded project which will facilitate more planting of Miscanthus, and partners met this month to present their findings 42% of the way through. The project will deliver improvements on the entire Miscanthus establishment process, including approaches to producing planting material, field preparation, innovative agri-tech, new planting techniques, and cutting-edge technologies to […]

On 10 August 2023, the UK government published its long-awaited Biomass Strategy, which highlights the crucial role biomass plays in the country’s plans to achieve net zero carbon and energy security. Terravesta welcomes the report and its support for the cultivation of Miscanthus, advocating 17,000 hectares of energy crops planted per year from 2038, or […]

Miscanthus growers can take advantage of the inclusion of permanent crops in the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) scheme. Applications for this opportunity became available in September 2023, with payments anticipated to commence later in the current year. In June DEFRA announced 23 on-farm SFI ‘Actions’ that farmers can get involved in. Most of these actions […]

Investment in biomass research is ramping up, and our R&D department has calculated that over the last 30 years, at least £57 million, and counting, has been invested in the development of Miscanthus in the UK and Europe. “Interest in the crop is continually growing,” says Michael Squance, Terravesta’s science and technology director. “The UK […]

We’re delighted to welcome Alex McCash to the Terravesta team as a field technician for our government-funded OMENZ project. Alex’s role is crucial to the future development of Miscanthus crops. He is working exclusively on our government-funded OMENZ project which will scale up Miscanthus planting. This means he coordinates field trials with existing varieties and […]

We’re delighted to announce that we have appointed Florian Ilias as our new managing director to grow new market opportunities and operations, as the demand for sustainable biomass increases. Florian’s role is to continue to advance the Miscanthus bioeconomy, growing market opportunities in the UK and Europe, and develop our operations to service these openings, […]

Contractors contending with higher input costs and labour shortages are feeling the pinch this year. But an increasing number are finding a new opportunity in Miscanthus harvesting, adding an additional income stream at a quiet time of the year. Miscanthus is cut with a forage harvester and baled in the spring months when business is […]

We are working with the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (UKCEH) and Fera to find Miscanthus growers who are willing to take part in a Defra Biodiversity project. Defra wants to see the impacts of different headland management options with Miscanthus. Ideally, UKCEH and Fera are looking for a range of different headland management […]

  This March we attended the Futurebuild show with Natural Building Systems to showcase the Miscanthus building materials we are developing. We caught up with our operations director, Alex Robinson, to find out more about the potential for this exciting new market…   You attended Futurebuild show recently, can you tell us what Miscanthus building […]

Miscanthus is becoming more readily used as a game cover crop because it’s cost-effective, low maintenance, and holds gamebirds well. The crop is seeing increased uptake on shoots around the country, and while it doesn’t provide feed, it’s only planted once, contract harvested in the spring after the season, and grows back quickly each year, […]

A new £4.8M project funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to increase biomass crops grown in the UK, launched at Low Carbon Agriculture Show at the NAEC, Stoneleigh, on 7th February 2023. Biomass Connect is a new initiative that will showcase best-practice and innovations in biomass feedstock production at sites […]