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10116 Waste Min PP 67-116.qxd
8/5/06
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General Farm Waste | Fuel oil and lubricants
6.2 Fuel oil and lubricants
Efficient use of energy makes good environmental sense and
good business sense.
Fuel oil and petroleum products cost the agricultural industry
more £450 million/year. To reduce these costs, farm businesses
increasingly need to practice good energy management. One
example is integrated crop management that, by rationalising
soil cultivations, can achieve consistent savings in fuel costs.
Careful selection of cultivation systems can produce major fuel savings
By careful tyre selection and choice of field operations, a farmer has reduced
trafficking in unsuitable soil conditions and so reduced the need for remedial
cultivations - saving up to £6 per hectare in fuel cost alone. This has also freed
up labour and machinery, leading to improved timeliness of other operations.
A further 40-60% of cultivation fuel costs has been saved by using combination
implements (to accomplish field work with fewer passes) and non-powered
seedbed cultivators. In addition, this has reduced labour & machinery costs
and improved timeliness of operations.
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