Up to 77% of farmers are open to growing feedstock crops or supplying slurry for anaerobic digestion (AD) plants, the Irish Farmers Journal survey found.

When asked if they would be willing to grow silage or other forage crops for AD plants, or supply slurry to such facilities, 25% of farmers said yes, while 52% said maybe.

The remaining 23% said they would not supply either feedstock crops or slurry to AD plants.

The Climate Action Plan for 2023, published just before Christmas, included plans to fast-track the development of a network of AD plants across the country. The interim target is to have 20 large AD plants constructed within two years. Those plants are estimated to require around 60,000ac of feedstock to feed them.

Broad support for the concept of supplying feedstock to AD plants was expressed across all of the main farm enterprises.

A quarter of beef farmers said they would grow crops or supply slurry to AD plants, with 56% answering maybe, and 19% replying no.

The figures for the dairy sector were similar, with 24% saying yes, 50% answering maybe, and 26% replying no.

Twenty-eight percent of tillage farmers said they would supply feedstock to AD plants, 57% said maybe and 15% replied no.

Meanwhile, 23% of sheep farmers indicated that they would supply feedstock to AD plants, 43% said maybe and 34% replied no.

Twenty large-scale anaerobic digestion (AD) plants are to be developed nationally by 2025 under the updated Climate Action Plan.