A NEW company has been formed to try to kick-start interest in wood as a fuel source.

REFA - Renewable Energy From Agriculture - aims to act as the link between farmers interested in growing short rotation willow coppice and end users.

"The idea is to end the current situation where the lack of supply means a lack of demand and the lack of demand means a lack of supply," said Mr Robin Twizell, one of the men behind the company.

REFA aims to set up a database of growers and end users and is appealing for farmers interested in growing willow coppice to contact them.

Mr Twizell has established the company with fellow farmer directors Mr Mike Dunwoodie and Mr Dave Swinbank.

They already operate RMD Agriculture, their successful grain business, from facilities at Cote Nook Farm, Sedgefield, and have formed REFA after investigating short rotation coppicing themselves.

"It is obvious that there is interest from farmers and from end users but there is little co-ordination and a lot of frustration," said Mr Twizell.

"We want to create a database of growers and potential customers to overcome this and get things moving."

The initiative could be timely as the government has set time-tabled targets for all local authorities to become more fuel efficient and environmentally friendly.

REFA has had some initial contact with councils who have show interest in its aims.

And simply by talking to a few farmers last week Mr Twizell had 100 hectares registered as potential sites with land from a further 17 in the pipeline.

"We are sure there is great interest it is just co-ordinating it, which is why we are acting as the link," he said.

"We will be the end user for farmers who grow SRC and the supplier for the end user."

SRC can be grown on most land types and attracts planting grants of between £1,000 and £1600 per hectare, depending on the land type. A minimum of three hectares has to be registered.

It can be grown on set-aside land without affecting set aside payments or the planting grants.

Mr Twizell believes it could also be of particular interest to farms which have suffered from the foot-and-mouth crisis.

To further encourage interest REFA is prepared to do everything from filling in the application forms to planting through to harvesting.

The cycle from initial planting to the first harvest is four years. REFA sees this as an advantage as it gives a time-scale for local authorities and other end users to carry out any conversion work necessary.

"If they know that they are going to take out an existing boiler, say in a school, and replace it with a wood burning boiler then they have a time-table to budget to," said Mr Twizell.

REFA can also supply, install and maintain the boilers for the end user.

The normal agreement for growing SRC lasts five years but REFA believes longer contracts - 10 or 20 years - would give greater confidence to both growers and end users that the supply and demand will be long term.

"We want to hear from any potential growers and users so we can put together a register to get this off the ground," said Mr Twizell.

"We are sure there is a market if people can be given the confidence to get involved."

REFA is now targeting potential growers and users in this region but is open to compiling a national register.

The register will give both parties confidence as it will give an accurate picture of the supply and demand it can offer.

Anyone interested or who wants more information can contact REFA on 01740 623300 or on the net at refa.org.uk.