DOI: 10.5061/dryad.83bk3j9tz
title: Expanding the Miscanthus market in the UK: Growers in profile and experience, benefits and drawbacks of the bioenergy crop

description: To achieve net zero greenhouse gas emission by 2050 as set out by the 2019
 amendment to the 2008 UK Climate Change Act, a major shift towards
 renewable energy is needed. This includes the development of new methods
 along with improving and upscaling existing technologies. One example of
 new methods in bioenergy is developing new Miscanthus cultivars for
 electricity generation via thermal power station furnaces. Miscanthus is
 still relatively new compared to other agriculture practices, so market
 assessments and improvements are needed to reduce the barriers of entry
 for prospective growers. This publication provides a profile of UK
 Miscanthus growers and their businesses, their experiences of benefits and
 drawbacks of the crop, and what they see as potential barriers to entry
 for prospective farmers. A survey of current Miscanthus growers in England
 and Wales was conducted and indicated that most farmers were content with
 the crop and that its environmental and economic benefits were noted.
 However, it was evident that with a geographically limited UK market,
 growers wanted to see a better distribution of biomass processing stations
 to reduce the ongoing costs of transport. With growing demand for
 renewables, including bio-energy sources, it was determined important to
 provide information and support for stable farming operations and to
 incentivise the adoption of Miscanthus. Such incentives include ongoing
 development of new cultivars, focussing on traits such as production
 potential and stressor resilience, and growers indicated preference for an
 annual planting grant. These developments are predicted to further improve
 the crop’s profit margin, making it a more cost-effective crop for
 farmers. Sensitively managed Miscanthus also has the potential to
 contribute to carbon sequestration, soil health and aspects of farmland
 biodiversity. Incentivising such management in government land-based
 environmental schemes would offer additional income streams and help to
 promote environmental positive crop planting.
description: The grower’s questionnaire was sent out to all
 Terravesta-contracted <em>Miscanthus</em> growers in England
 and Wales in 2021. The questionnaire contained 37 questions with initial
 questions about the farm, followed by questions about the grower’s
 demographic status and experience in the sector (age, education,
 involvement in green schemes, etc.), followed by questions on their
 experience of the benefits and drawbacks of growing
 <em>Miscanthus</em>. The survey included multiple choice and
 open-ended questions, with multiple choice responses based on the
 five-point Likers scale: ‘strongly disagree’ (score 1), ‘disagree’ (2),
 ‘neutral’ (3), ‘agree’ (4), and ‘strongly agree’ (5). The statements were
 based on the outcome of a previous grower’s survey by Shepherd et al.,
 (2020) and discussion with stakeholders and other researchers associated
 with the UKRI-funded Supergen Bioenergy Hub. The
 questionnaire was created in Snap 11 (Version 11, build 11.22) which is
 managed online by the Snap WebHost. The questionnaire passed the research
 ethics review of the University of Aberdeen and a link to the
 questionnaire was distributed by Terravesta in a newsletter sent to their
 <em>Miscanthus</em> growers. The questionnaire was open for
 two months. Whilst the participation remained anonymous, interested
 parties were offered the opportunity to access a separate prize draw link
 at the end of the questionnaire as an incentive to respond to the
 survey. Each grower was asked to answer the
 questionnaire, only two questions (questions 1 and 21) were mandatory, and
 all others were voluntary. The analysed results were given as a percentage
 of responses, also accounting for missing responses. Where a limited
 number of response options were provided, a following question allowed for
 free input to provide other responses that were not included in the list.
 Descriptive statistics were calculated to summarise the survey data.
 Responses to open-ended questions were captured in a table. Data
 visualisation used Excel (Version 2202, build 16.0.14931.20118).