Trade body calls on Defra to back biofertiliser as fertiliser prices rise. The Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association has written to environment secretary Emma Reynolds urging the government to relax restrictions on digestate use in farming. The trade body said biofertiliser from UK biogas plants could replace up to 30 per cent of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser.
The UK has had no domestic synthetic fertiliser production since 2022, leaving farmers reliant on more than one million tonnes of imports annually. ADBA's letter warns that disruption to gas supplies through the Strait of Hormuz could push prices above £700 per tonne and potentially towards £900 during the spreading season. The trade body said digestate could offset around £170 million of economic risk in the first year.
ADBA chair Chris Huhne, the former energy secretary, said crises had shown "how quickly markets can destabilise" and that disruption to strategic chokepoints could quickly translate into higher costs for UK agriculture. There are currently more than 750 biogas plants operating across the UK, producing digestate as a by-product of biogas generation.
