A message to the valued wheat growers who have supported us from farms across the UK

Vivergo Fuels is the UK’s largest bioethanol plant and the single biggest wheat tip in the country. We take feed-grade wheat and turn it into fuel ethanol and high protein animal feed, helping to decarbonise UK transport and agriculture.

We chose our location just outside of Hull in East Yorkshire so we could be in the heart of the UK’s wheat belt, and we are committed to using locally grown feed wheat wherever possible.  Since we started in 2012, we have purchased wheat from over 12,000 farms across the UK, primarily in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. At our full potential we can process over a million tonnes of wheat per year, providing an important domestic market for the wheat farming community.

Unfortunately, if there is no government intervention in the next few weeks, our plant will have to close. That is because the government has made a series of decisions that undercut UK ethanol production in favour of US imports. The most recent trade deal was the final blow.

If there is no government intervention, we will not be able to purchase any more wheat outside our current limited commercial commitments.

We are writing to you because we know this will have an impact on you, one of our suppliers. We wish we didn’t have to warn you – but it is not fair to cut all supplies with no notice. Being a good employer and being a good customer is important to us.

This is avertable. If the government provides sufficient policy certainty to us in the long term and ameliorates the effects of their decisions in the short term, we can continue to operate and expand production. But so far, they have made no commitments.

If you did wish to help us, the best thing you can do is contact your MP; write directly to the Secretary of State for Business and Trade; and also reply to this letter letting us know if you would be willing to support our conversations with government.