A CRISPS producer based in Colchester has become the first one to become entirely energy efficient.

Fairfields Farm has just opened its new anaerobic digester plant.

Occupying the space of about ten football fields, the vision for the plant took two years to come to fruition and is located next to the potato farm and crisp factory in Wormingford.

It works by digesting organic matter like waste potatoes, maize and rye, and trillions of micro-organisms anaerobically digest this to create gas.

This gas is collected, filtered and then exported to the national grid, providing enough power for 4,000 homes.

A gas turbine is also onsite which produces electricity to power the crisp factory, potato pack house, cold storage and offices.

Robert Strathern, who runs the farming empire with his wife Laura, said: “Minimising our environmental impact is very important to us.

"We've always made efforts to reduce waste and be as energy efficient as possible so the new AD plant will allow us to fully realise our green potential.

“Apart from the obvious environmental benefits, building this AD plant will also enable us to better manage our power supply and remove the risk of future fluctuations in the energy market.

"This keeps us commercially lean and enables us to be viable and competitive well into the future.”

Fairfields Farm has always prided itself on its green energy efforts with solar panels already installed onsite.

The anaerobic digesting process also produces organic digestate which is high in nutrients and ideal for spreading back on the fields to help soil structure and fertility on the farm.