Gamber Poultry Litter talk about their role in reducing phosphate pollution in the Wye Valley Catchment Area.
Due to the phosphate issues within the Wye Valley Catchment Area (WVCA), which is partly attributed to poultry litter being spread on arable land, Gamber has taken on the contract to move all litter out of the area from around 75 of the 100 Avara farms involved. Gamber, a company which has been trading litter since 2012, decided to take on the challenge from January 1st this year on the basis that “it is what Gamber does and if we didn’t do it somebody else would”.
To have sufficient resources in place, two additional members of staff were recruited, Mark Hammond (Logistics) and Hannah Clarkson (Administration), to help the established team of Nigel Berry and Dean Llewellyn.
The short-term plan (but probably not sustainable in the long term) is for the litter to be transported to anaerobic digesters, power stations and arable farms out of the WVCA until a full traceability protocol can be put in place. This protocol will demonstrate where the product comes from, with weight tickets from hauliers to support quantities moved and who the end user is – be they AD operators or farmers. If the latter, a complete nutrient management plan, with agronomists’ recommendation will be required to support its use. Applications to land must then show proof of spreading, supported by GPS mapping, identifying the fields material is applied to, with application dates.
Gamber are working closely with CXCS and are looking to use two of their existing resources to save time, money, and duplication. Firstly, the portal that CXCS has launched which contains all of their growers’ field records and farm information and secondly, the CXCS field staff to help with collating information from “any” farms needing help both in and outside the WVCA.
Since the project began, some sales have been very last minute due to the continued terrible weather. There have also been cancellations the day before deliveries were due to be made because of arable farmers not wanting litter when it is too wet. However, the Gamber team have battled on and continue to clear sites on time which is extremely important based on the tight turnarounds that poultry farms have to work to.
The price of litter has reduced in the last three months due to a combination of wet weather, fertiliser prices falling and AD plants having good maize yield reducing their demand. However, the market price for litter is expected to rise again in the spring when farmers are able to access ground again with the knowledge that the product is not only a good source of N, P and K, but also extremely good as a soil conditioner.
Long-term, the outlook also looks good for litter sales due to the government’s ambitious target of increasing the current seven hundred and thirty-two AD plants to two thousand by 2030. This is with a view to having a large number of small green energy power plants, rather than relying on the large power stations which could leave the country vulnerable.
Find out more at:https://gamber.co.uk/
