Environmental & Carbon Management

Food production is essential for society, and producing on a commercial scale carries an environmental impact, but also presents us with opportunities to be part of the solution to climate change. At ATB we are in the process of calculating our carbon footprint so that we can actively manage and reduce it for the benefit of our business, our clients and our future. Our aim is to exceed the NFU’s goal of achieving net-zero in farming by 2040. Some of the ways in which we are already working towards this include:

Use of compost
Solar energy
Biomass energy
Environmental plots

Compost

We spread between 30 – 50,000 tonnes of compost per year, which comes directly from green waste. This has the dual advantage of adding valuable carbon into the soil, reducing our use of artificial fertilisers whilst also disposing of green waste responsibly.

Solar Panels

ATB has five sets of roof mounted solar panels located across our farms, amounting to over 250 kW of solar production, all of which is used on site to power our offices, workshops, stores and lettings.

Biomass Boilers

We run two biomass boilers which produce up to 1.2MW of heat from biomass. These boilers heat the whole farm, including our offices, workshops, property and assist the grain driers during the harvest months. Both boilers have been designed with the ability to run off either OSR straw or woodchip which gives us the ability adjust our feedstock according to market fluctuations.

The woodchip is a byproduct from woodland and hedgerow management on the surrounding land and is dried and screened to produce a chip suitable for our boilers. The woodfines are used to bed our cattle and the oversize is mixed into the compost which is spread onto the land, creating a truely integrated cycle.

Provision of Biomass & Woodfuel

With any biomass or woodfuel which is surplus to the requirements of our own boilers, ATB provides mobile wood chipping and bulk woodfuel to commercial clients, giving them access to sustainable alternatives for their business.

Countryside Stewardship

We are using the latest data and technology, combined with years of experience farming the land to asertain the most marginal areas and implement measures to enhance the environment. We are planting wild bird food mixes and cover crops for nectar feeding insects such as bumblebees and butterflies. These plots will increase biodiversity and carbon sequestration as well as reduce our use of insecticides due to a greater population of natural predators.

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