ENERGY Crops Consultancy (ECC) has announced their successful bid to help local, low-carbon biomass production in the UK increase significantly by creating ideas in partnership with agricultural machinery engineers, manufacturers and a highly specialist team to articulate the opportunity.

Established at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, ECC is less than two years old and works with local growers in Cumbria to plant, manage and harvest perennial wood crops in a mission to create low-carbon supply chains and provide sustainable and profitable income revenue while improving water quality and biodiversity.

One of the founding Directors of ECC, Neil Watkins said, “This is fantastic news and great to be one of the winning companies for this tender from The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to evaluate low ground pressure machinery to help in the agronomy of perennial wood crops.”

“It is a great moment for ECC. Our team’s Willow and Poplar perennial wood crops specialists have decades of experience and are pleased to hear that the Climate Change Committee and Government are keen to back innovative companies like ours to reach a more sustainable circular economy.”

Funded by the BEIS Biomass Feedstocks Innovation Programme, the project will draw on a range on expertise from growers and engineers to academics and consultants.

With their expertise and specialist equipment for agroforestry as well as planting, managing and harvesting perennial wood crops, ECC’s mission is to create local low-carbon supply chains, increase wildlife corridors, improve water quality and biodiversity.