AN organic farm which produces vegetable boxes has unveiled a plan to build a environmentally-friendly power generator fuelled by 6,500 tonnes of waste.

Home Farm, at Newby Wiske, which is the northern base for Riverford Organic Farms, has applied to Hambleton District Council to install a sunken and domed 200kW anaerobic digester as part of a drive to diversify into rearing pigs.

Peter Richardson, whose family has farmed the land for three generations, wants to relaunch the pig-fattening part of his business following an upsurge in demand for home-produced high-quality meat.

Mr Richardson, who launched the organic business in 1996 and is part of the firm which supplies 40,000 boxes of vegetables to consumers every week, aims to use the digester to break down the anticipated 1,500 tonnes of farmyard manure from the pigs.

It would also be fed with up to 2,500 tonnes of grass silage and 500 tonnes of vegetable off-cuts produced on the farm and 2,000 tonnes of farmyard and chicken manure from nearby Maunby House Farm.

The digester would break down the organic matter into gasses such as carbon dioxide and methane, which can be used to drive engines to generate power, burned to produce heat or can be processed to be used as a natural gas or biogas for fuel.

It has been estimated 90 per cent of the power generated would be sold to the national grid, with the remainder being used within the 700-acre farm and the heat created within the farming complex.

The resulting matter is nitrogen-rich and could be used as a fertiliser and soil conditioner.

A spokesman for the farm said: “While anaerobic digestion in the North-East is largely underdeveloped, a range of exploitable opportunities exist for farmers, food and drink manufacturers and local authorities alike.

“Presently, the agriculture industry is estimated to produce over 81,567 kilo-tonnes of waste per year.”

While the proposed site stands 400m from the nearest residential property, at a pre-application public consultation event held at South Otterington Village Hall, residents raised concerns over the impact of construction traffic on the A167 and Maunby Lane, particularly during during the peak school-run times.

As a result, the farm has said it would be willing to accept a planning condition prohibiting HGV traffic movements to and from the site during those hours.

No objections to the plan, which is expected to be decided by the council’s planning committee next month, have yet been submitted.