JMW Farms Ltd – ONLINE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

DESCRIPTION OF DEVELOPMENT

Slurry and Digestate processing waste treatment system with dewatering, biological treatment and effluent dispersal via Precision Effluent Dispersal (PED) in association with anaerobic digestion (AD) facility and pig farm at lands at Tonnagh Hill, Killylea.

PURPOSE OF THIS CONSULTATION

The purpose of this consultation is to inform the design process and any subsequent planning applications which will be made to Armagh Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council for the above project.

Persons wishing to make comment to the applicant may do so easily via this webpage & further information on the project is available below.

If you wish to discuss the project or require more information you can also contact Manor Architects directly on

028 867 483 67.

Note that any comments made are to the applicant (JMW Farms Ltd) & not the council’s planning team.

An opportunity to make representation to the council’s planning team will be provided at a later stage through the usual planning process.

Any comment you make is treated in strict confidence and as anonymous.

ABOUT JMW Farms Ltd

JMW Farms is GB and Ireland’s largest independent pig producing company.

Their head office is based in Armagh and currently employs 250 direct employees as well as furth 80+ contract growers across the country.

All pigs are born and raised to the highest welfare level and audited to the Red Tractor standard. All farms are approved to sell to the major UK and Irish retailers, as well as export to China, USA, and other world markets.

All farms have been manufactured and built by JMWs own fabrication and construction teams, they have their own registered Veterinary Practice and Procurement centre, and are heavily involved with environmental/animal welfare research and development.

JMW Farms is a family-owned, family-run pig production company that was founded in 1989 on a farm in Co. Armagh, Northern Ireland.

The story of JMW Farms is simple, it started at the bottom with humble makeshift out-houses graduating to more superior, purpose-built housing which was all manufactured by the two brothers.

Some 32 years later their pig production business is carried out in some of the most sophisticated and advanced units within the industry.

On this journey the brothers have built and refined a business model which works for them and has facilitated expansion to date. JMW Farms collectively has an acute awareness of the worldwide need for conservation & sustainability of natural resources and have to date made considerable investment in renewable energies.

JMW Farms pride themselves in their personal ecological policy and endeavour to continue with this policy, all the while, contributing to the country’s economy and infrastructure.

LOCATION OF THE SITE

Nestled in the rolling hillsides of county Armagh and northeast of Killylea village, the JMW Farm site at Tonnagh Road has naturally evolved and expanded with the business over the last 20 years.

The site currently houses between 3 & 4 thousand pigs in a series of pig houses with the usual associated staffing facilities, feed storage and farm yard areas one would expect of a farm of this size.

There is an Anaerobic Digestion (AD) plant onsite which transforms waste products from the farming & food industries into biogas, all of which complements JMW Farms ecological commitment, and which is delivered through their sister company Greencircle Renewables ltd.

The development is served by two access points, one from the Tonnagh Road in the north and the other from the Bracknagh Road in the east.

SITE LOCATION PLAN

ABOUT THE PROPOSAL

JMW Farms and Greencircle Renewables have a strong and active commitment to mitigating their impact on the environment. They realise that this can only be achieved through sustained effort, researching, adapting and being unrelenting in your ambitions for change within the farming sector.

JMW Farms continue to innovate/adapt and lead the way in relation to sustainable approaches to farming generally and waste management in particular.

The onsite AD plant currently has 2 related planning application (LA08/2022/1556/F and LA08/2022/0571/F) before Armagh Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council for consideration. They relate to the linear AD tank and changes to the waste codes covering the types of waste the site can receive and then process into digestate/bio fertiliser.

The current disposal option that JMW Farms utilise for digestate is landspreading and lands which are subject to a Nutrient Management Plan.

The proposed existing land bank and the disposal system will be changed from surface application to sub-surface application and requires approximately 17 hectares of land.

By eliminating the need for land spreading, the proposal also mitigates associated traffic impacts, air quality and odour issues and the need for nutrient management of farmland.

Whilst providing a solution for JMW’s pig rearing business through the utilisation of pig slurry, the AD plant delivers broader socio economic, energy, environmental and circular economy benefits, including;

• The utilisation of slurry & Agri food by-products to generate renewable energy and a valuable biofertilizer;
• AD Sourced energy provides security of energy supply and reduces reliance on fossil fuels and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions;
• Reducing the use of energy intensive fertilisers and replacing peat extraction;
• Removing the need for landspreading, reduces the phosphorous surpluses in local soils, reduction in nutrient enriched waters and improvement in water quality of streams, rivers and loughs;
• Reduction of ammonia emissions from agriculture – by way of using an innovative combination of AD and digestive treatment technologies (including ammonia stripping); and,
• Supporting the economic viability of the Northern Ireland Pig Sector which sustains and provides a substantial proportion of the local council gross agri food output.