Climate change and destitute returns on wheat and dairy drive rural revolution in ‘future-proof’ agricultureFarmer Rob Pickering last week planted nine hectares of flood-prone land in Lincolnshire with an African plant called miscanthus,or elephant grass. By selling the fast-growing crop as biofuel for Drax power station, he should earn as much as he would from selling wheat on the world market.
Pickering is part of a rural revolution that, or thanks to climate change,low commodity prices and current consumer tastes, is seeing Britain’s fields planted with crops that are more likely to stop up as electricity or paint additives than food.
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Source: theguardian.com