A FARMER from south Worcestershire is to set up his own green waste composting scheme to reduce his crop production carbon footprint and his fertilizer bills.

Philip Troughton, of Croome Farm, has been given planning permission by Malvern Hills District Council to operate a facility on his farm turning 6,000 tonnes of green waste into compost which he will then spread on his 840 acres of arable land where he grows wheat and oil seed rape.

Mr Troughton said he had been working on the idea with the Environment Agency but had to get permission for change of use of the site on the former Defford airfield from the district council.

“I have been in negotiations with Malvern Hills District Council and most of the green waste will come from them. I was hoping to get it started so I could take the fallen leaves this autumn. Most of the council’s green waste is going to Throckmorton which is getting very full. I was quite lucky to have a site that was already there for it.

“The price of fertilizer is going up to about £500 a tonne so the composting will save money. It will also act as a soil conditioner as well as a fertilizer on my heavy clay soil and it is organic.”

He said he hoped in time to see an increase in his crop yields as a result of using the organic compost .