Future Biogas and the Country Trust

The 2024 campaign consisted of educational farm visits just 5 minutes away from The Future Biogas plant Merlin Renewables in Lincolnshire.

Activities were based on a range of food, farming and renewable energy topics, focusing on how these topics overlap. Many pupils learned for the first time that rotationally grown crops can be used to sustainably produce biogas and food.

A key learning from the sessions was that managed sustainably, land can play multiple roles and address multiple environmental issues. Our food production, energy consumption and climate ambitions are inextricably linked.

The days on farm included a unique soil science activity called Plant your Pants that demonstrated the impact digestate from AD can have on soil health (demonstrating microorganism activity on cotton, or lack thereof). Testing areas treated with digestate over a period, and comparing with other, untreated areas. The logic being that areas of land that have had organic matter applied repeatedly over time should generically be richer in biodiversity than those similar tracts of land that haven't.

In a year of unusually high rainfall, this was also an opportunity to learn how that impacts soil and the yields of the crops that are grown. This activity taught also pupils about the potential for soil to sequester carbon more broadly, which tied into the climate change topics the children were covering in school. The element of anaerobic digestion contributing to a circular economy was a key learning point.

Other activities included:

• Seed planting

• Meeting animals on the farm

• Looking at soil in a microscope

• Comparing the structure of sandy soil vs clay

• Examining and learning about different types of rocks

• Examining how cover crops and their root systems helped the soil

183 children from four different primary schools took part in the visits over the course of 2024; The average free school meal percentage of the schools in these areas is 34%, with the national average being 25%.

A teacher from a visiting school said of one of the visits, “This was a wonderful day for our children, some of whom would not have the opportunity to visit a farm normally. Many of the children, especially those who struggle in the classroom, shine in environments like this.”