Crop identification question

[Danny]

Spotted this tall grass like plant growing in a field on the edge of the Wolds near Malton. Does anyone know what it is and why it is being grown?

Apologies for the quality of the picture/

 

[Arch]

Elephant grass? Hard to tell the scale, but might be...

http://www.recrops.com/miscanthus

Used as biomass fuel.

I don't know how I know that, although I suppose it is elephant related....

 

[gavintc]

Thank you for that, you have just identified the weed that grows in great abundance on the flat lands around here. It ends up encroaching onto the roadways and I was not sure what it was. It looks a little bit like bamboo, but I was sure that it was not. It is a real nuisance as it gets high then leans into the road.

 

[srw]

Spotted this tall grass like plant growing in a field on the edge of the Wolds near Malton. Does anyone know what it is and why it is being grown?

Your picture is, as you suggest, shockingly bad. But I think it's reed canary grass. Or possibly, but less likely, switchgrass. IN either case grown for biofuel - I think Arch has the purpose right but not the crop. Do not ask me how I now.

Oh, go on then. Nothing to do with my leet ninja renewable energy skillz, and everything to do with google. First - look at google for Malton crop reed, then do a little bit of digging. Apparently reed canary grass is better than switchgrass, dontcha know.

 

[Danny]

Your picture is, as you suggest, shockingly bad. But I think it's reed canary grass. Or possibly, but less likely, switchgrass. IN either case grown for biofuel - I think Arch has the purpose right but not the crop. Do not ask me how I now.

Oh, go on then. Nothing to do with my leet ninja renewable energy skillz, and everything to do with google. First - look at google for Malton crop reed, then do a little bit of digging. Apparently reed canary grass is better than switchgrass, dontcha know.

Hmm...I'm not sure if I actually said my picture was "shockingly bad", but I'll admit that it was not one of my better efforts.

If it is a bio fuel I wonder where it gets used? There only seemed to be one big field of it growing, so I can't imagine the farmer makes a huge amount of money from it.

 

[slowmotion]

My trichologist handed me that "progress" picture last week.

 

[Amheirchion]

If it is Miscanthus (it looks like it could be) or another biofuel, they're being used in power plants in places to supplement coal. The crop can be shredded down then compacted into pellets, then it's shipped to a power plant and used there.
It can also be used in smaller scale biomass burners to provide the heating for buildings. Near me there is a farm that grows it and buys it from other farmers, they then process it to pellet form on site. The fuel is then sold on to power plants and they're are looking into providing the fuel to heat a new leisure centre that is being built. The farm also has it's own biomass furnace that provides the heat for their offices and the canteen.

 

[TVC]

There's a fair bit of it south of Pocklington too, biomass plants, I think I saw on TV a while back about there being a bio power station around there.

 

[Danny]

Elephant grass? Hard to tell the scale, but might be...

Strange how you immediately assumed it was elephant grass

 

[Arch]

There's a fair bit of it south of Pocklington too, biomass plants, I think I saw on TV a while back about there being a bio power station around there.

Doesn't Drax run partially on biomass?

<google>

Yes, they do (or they plan to soon). Not so far from Pocklington.

http://www.draxpower.../fuels/biomass/

Danny, I can't think why I thought of elephant grass.....

Well, I do, I'd heard of it being used, but not heard of the alternative grasses mentioned.

 

[ufkacbln]

Elephant grass?

I had this wicked thought of a herd of stoned elephants!

 

[ufkacbln]

Doesn't Drax run partially on biomass?

I thought Drax industries was a fiction!

 

[Brains]

Drax is not fiction
It is the biggest single C02 producer in western Europe

 

[TVC]

<br />Drax is not fiction<br />It is the biggest single C02 producer in western Europe<br />

<br /><br /><br />

I didn't realise there was a big market for CO2. Another British industrial success story then.