Planting Miscanthus as a Biomass Crop for Resilience and Profitability

If your farm has low-yield areas where conditions mean that wheat, barley and other crops find it difficult to grow, have you considered planting miscanthus as a biomass crop?

According to TerraVesta, miscanthus is a long-term profitable option. Although its establishment costs are relatively high, miscanthus is a low-maintenance, long-lasting crop that doesn’t need fertilisers and pesticides (which are steeply increasing in price). It also can thrive in low-quality soil and on marginal land, growing up to 10 metres tall.  

Miscanthus is a sustainable biomass crop, which means it can be burned in biomass boilers as fuel to create heat energy.  

Using miscanthus as fuel in a biomass boiler creates what is considered to be carbon-neutral energy. The carbon released during miscanthus’ combustion is offset by the carbon it absorbed in its lifetime, which is 15-20 years. This means that farmers growing miscanthus to burn in their own biomass boilers, in order to create energy to run their farm, would be avoiding potential carbon tax.

There are other biomass crops such as wheat and barley, but miscanthus stands out as a resilient and profitable option for farmers because:

• Miscanthus thrives on poorer soils and marginal land where other crops may underperform, making use of unproductive land

• Miscanthus grows up to 10 metres tall and therefore uses little surface area

• Miscanthus is a low-maintenance crop which doesn’t require expensive fertilisers and pesticides, and doesn’t need to be reseeded annually

• Miscanthus withstands poor weather conditions, offering more reliability

• Miscanthus runs at a stable, inflation-proof price, which is attractive to buyers in volatile markets

• Miscanthus is planted and harvested in spring, avoiding clashes in other harvesting scheduling

Although there are relatively high establishment costs when planting miscanthus, a 2023 Terravesta study showed that despite this, miscanthus was more profitable than over a 10-year period than wheat or barley.

CFE’s partner JustSEN produce high-quality biomass hot water boilers, with versatile combustion systems which can be adapted for all types of biomass fuels including miscanthus.  These boilers are built to suit individual client needs with regards to capacity, temperature, pressure, fuel, emission standards and automation.

CFE is exhibiting at the Pig & Poultry Fair on the 13^th and 14^th May 2026. We will be happy to answer any questions in person about biomass fuels and biomass boilers for your farm or business.

Or, you can visit our biomass page online: https://www.cfeng.co.uk/biomass-hot-water-systems or contact Jules on: 07811 199 585 or Matt: 07878 189150.