Minister Muir is pictured with Jack Blakiston Houston at BH Estates.
BH Estates has been awarded £4million over three years to help Northern Ireland’s agriculture sector reduce excess phosphorus from livestock slurry, as part of the Lough Neagh Action Plan.
The award has been made as part of the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs’ (DAERA) Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) Phase 2 project under the Sustainable Utilisation of Livestock Slurry (SULS) programme.
While visiting the BH Estates site near Dundonald, Minister Muir said:
“This is a significant milestone which delivers on a key action point in the Lough Neagh Report and Action Plan, which I published in July.
“It also has the potential to radically change the way nutrients are managed by the farming community and provide a sustainable future for our agrifood sector and be an excellent example of Green Growth in action, contributing to emissions reductions, environmental improvements and green job opportunities.
“Today’s announcement sees the launch of the first Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) Phase 2 project under the Sustainable Utilisation of Livestock Slurry (SULS) programme. The SULS programme will advance and develop demonstrator sites to process livestock manure/slurry to remove excess phosphorus from the environment.
“I am delighted to see the first contract awarded to BH Estates for their Farm2Export project. BH Estates can now scale up their solution for managing excess phosphorus from livestock slurry and anaerobic digestate. Their consortium has just taken receipt of multiple self-funded large mobile slurry separators which they will put to work on farms and AD plants to produce feedstock for renewable energy and organo mineral fertiliser. Coupled with additional nutrient separation equipment supported by DAERA, this will support reductions in our reliance on fossil fuels, reduce reliance on imported fertilisers and demonstrate the potential to improve water quality if rolled out on a much larger scale.”
SBRI provides the public sector with innovative solutions to problems that will drive improvement and allows suppliers to develop products and services working collaboratively with the public sector, enabling them to develop new skills, expertise and markets.
Jack Blakiston Houston, managing director at BH Estates added:
“We are excited to begin our Farm2Export project, under the umbrella of the SULS programme. We look forward to working with DAERA and our consortium partners, and farmers across Northern Ireland and further enable the economically viable movement of agri nutrients. The system we hope to deliver will see a win-win for farming, food processors and the public with regards to nutrient management in both the agri-food and energy sectors in Northern Ireland.”