A Moulton Seas End farm is working with National Grid to promote its plans for energy pylons.
Jack Buck Farns has been hailed as a ‘regional star’ for its campaign in relation to The Great Grid update.
Locally it proposes to include the building of new substations at Weston Marsh as part of at least two lines of overhead cables stretching north, south and west from it.
Critics say the benefits won’t be felt locally and it would have a huge effect on the countryside.
National Grid say the campaign involving Jack Buck Farms ‘brings the grid upgrade to life through the experiences of local businesses and communities, highlighting the role electricity plays in everyday life and economic growth’.
It says the fourth generation, 2,300-acre family farm grows eight crops, including around 470 acres of celeriac, and produces nearly 19,000 tonnes of produce and wheat each year.
It is managed by husband-and-wife team Julian and Penny Perowne (pictured above) along with Josh Adams with 17 full time staff and between four and 150 casual staff depending on the season.
National Grid say the farm is continuing to grow and expand and as modern farming becomes more reliant on electricity, annual consumption has almost doubled, rising from around 520,000 kWh in 2006 to approximately one million kWh today.
Julian Perowne said: “I’ve been working around energy infrastructure for my whole career. We lay out our crops around the pylons, and we coexist, farming and electricity infrastructure together. When new projects are planned carefully and landowners engaged, it can work.
“As agriculture becomes more modern and energy intensive, reliable electricity is becoming ever more important to businesses like ours.
“Come winter, our stores are full and we are washing and packing at our busiest time. The scale of the operation today, from cold storage to washing and packing, means electricity is fundamental to how we grow, store and deliver food.”
