North Lincolnshire arable farmers, Ambrose and Edward Fowler, have been growing their Miscanthus crop for 13 years on drought-prone unproductive land, and have seen annual yield increases with no fertiliser applied over this time. “The crop yielded 13t/ha in 2020, with no other inputs apart from very occasional use of a non-selective herbicide before the […]

Terravesta welcomes Jonathan Backhouse to the team this spring, as operations manager. Key to his role is working with new growers to get Miscanthus off to the best possible start as well as supporting them through the crop’s life. Jonathan’s background is rooted in agriculture, coming from an agri-engineering family, and he has held numerous […]

On 23 February, the first biomass thermal power plant, using British agri-tech, was officially opened in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova. This occasion marked the start of the transition of the energy supply system from imported fossil gas to renewable energy. The newly-installed 150kW biomass thermal power plant is a project pilot. The project aims […]

Following on from the 2020 harvest and some of the best yields ever recorded for Miscanthus, we are all looking forward to what the 2021 harvest will yield. Thank you to all those who attended our ‘Miscanthus Growers Forum’ this month. Here we updated growers on the ‘Terravesta Harvest Hub’, our new innovative information management […]

Ahead of 2021 Miscanthus harvest, Terravesta has launched its innovative ‘Harvest Hub’ streamlined information management system to help growers to upload and access their harvest data at the click of a button. The Harvest Hub will ensure that sustainability data is captured, and in future this data will assist in grower’s carbon sequestration reporting. “It’s […]

Rob Meadley, Brown and Co agricultural business consultant and East Yorkshire arable farmer, grows 12 hectares of Miscanthus on varying quality, outlying land which previously wasn’t delivering a viable return with arable crops. His Miscanthus is coming up to eight years old and after a difficult start in April 2012 where planting was followed by […]

As I write this from Tier 3 Lockdown Lincolnshire, who would have believed that after all of the drama of last year, it would be capped by something so much more dramatic this year! 2019, floods; 2020, plague; 2021, swarms? Well, let’s hope not, but who knows what lies in store? At Terravesta our collective […]

Sustainable grass specialist announced as first member of Barclays Eagle Lab Farm in Lincoln A company that produces Miscanthus grasses to improve soil health and provide an alternative to fossil fuels has been named as the first member of a dedicated Agri-Tech hub. Terravesta, based at Barclay’s Eagle Lab Farm in Lincoln, is a specialist […]

Bioenergy crops such as Miscanthus play a key role in the first detailed roadmap for a fully decarbonised nation, in the sixth carbon budget from the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), issued In December 2020. According to the report, polluting emissions in the UK must decrease by 78% by 2035, and energy crops and bio […]

PLEASE NOTE THIS POSITION HAS NOW BEEN FILLED Job Title: Operations Manager Department: Terravesta Farming Ltd Responsible to: Alex Robinson – Operations Director Purpose of the Department: To implement and manage the establishment of Miscanthus crops from contract through to first harvest. Main Purpose of the Job: The business is based in Lincoln, and the […]

An international research team has sequenced the full genome of Miscanthus in a project which will help to decipher the genetic basis for its desirable traits. The paper’s catchy title ‘Genome biology of the paleotetraploid perennial biomass crop Miscanthus’ may sound complex, but do not fear, we’ve quizzed Michael Squance our IT and science guru to […]