Balmoral: Blue-sky thinking on show

At Balmoral Show fresh thinking is regularly and routinely on display. Innovation in technology, machinery and livestock genetics is to the fore. Farming life does not stand still.

Preparing for this year’s Balmoral Show, I cast my mind back to 2022. Then, Burkes of Cornascriebe exhibited a first for the entire island: a tractor powered by Bio-Methane.

Their New Holland T6.180 Methane Power tractor attracted considerable interest, for it is fuelled from biodegradable food waste. This piece of cutting-edge machinery is pictured with Timothy Hamill from Granville Ecopark, Wilbert Murdock from Burkes and me.

But, you wonder, is this contemporary tractor blue-sky thinking, or pie-in-the-sky?

The Bio-Methane used for this Methane Power tractor is supplied by Granville Eco Park, Dungannon.

Timothy Hamill, plant manager, gave an insight into this ground-breaking technology.

Granville Ecopark, the largest such company in Northern Ireland, process material through an anaerobic digestion system.

This leads to the recovery of energy from waste, to make renewable energy, as well as vehicle fuel (Bio-Methane).

Put another way (which makes more sense to me) the firm call this the Smart Loop.

You take, for example, food waste from a firm, convert into a fuel and then use that fuel to help power the company.

So, there are obvious exciting environmental benefits. The recovery of energy from waste, to make renewable energy, as well as vehicle fuel, must be a good thing.

With all of us needing to play our constructive part in caring for the planet, this circular economy approach harnesses potential to help us all. This innovation in Bio-Methane also got me thinking about us. We humans are innovators because we are made in God’s image.

God is the original Blue-Sky-Thinker, creating a universe out of nothing. God’s Word, the Bible, begins with His understated artistry, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1).

What skills do you have? God has blessed us all with abilities. If you are a farmer - then you can turn your hand to dozens of different tasks.

Whoever you are, you are multi-talented. Just think about all the daily tasks you perform. We are complex and capable, for we are made in the image of the Great Innovator: God Himself.

But tragically, we have spoiled the innovative lives God made us to live. We think that the way to the greatest creative freedom for us lies in living apart from God our Maker.

This is the ugly heart of what sin is. But this is not a smart move. Instead of bringing us freedom and an exciting range of life choices, it leads to eternal death, for it cuts us off from God, the Eternal Life-Giver. The ultimate of bottom lines is this: "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).

However, because God our Creator continues to love and care for us, He has sent His Son Jesus, to recreate us. So that when we trust in Jesus, God remakes us into brand new, forgiven people, blessed with His eternal life: "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17).

This is the innovation we all need to begin with.

From the innovative to the traditional, you will find it at the Balmoral Show.

If you plan to attend, it would be great to see you on the Presbyterian Church in Ireland’s stand: EK 75, in the Eikon Exhibition Centre.

A warm welcome, light refreshments and a seat to rest weary legs, awaits you.

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Rev Kenny Hanna is the Presbyterian Church in Ireland’s first Rural Chaplain. Growing up on the family farm in the Kingdom of Mourne, he began serving in parish ministry in 2001 in Glenwherry. Prior to his appointment as Rural Chaplain, he was minister of Second Dromara Presbyterian Church for 10 years. He continues to farm part-time.

If you would like to talk to someone about any of the issues raised in this article, please email Kenny at [email protected] or call him on 07938 488 372.

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