soil health

With SFI payments being made already to farms around the country. Suppliers are seeing a surge of orders, raising concerns that a shortage of supply is on the way. We’ve been seeing massive variation in quality of seed mix and price of packs all the way from eco mixes that meet the standard...

Written by Richard Halleron from Agriland A recent ADAS study has confirmed that cover crops can both refine nitrogen (N) usage and protect water quality. This work was co-funded by Affinity Water and Portsmouth Water under the aegis of a project known as ‘Nitrogen release from Cover Crops’...

https://www.fwi.co.uk/business/business-management/agricultural-transition/defra-minister-hints-at-elm-cap-to-maintain-food-production?utm_source=hometopstories

Project aims The twin aims of the project are firstly to develop a soil health sensor which provides in-field measurement of microbial diversity and fungal:bacterial ratio. This will help the project fulfil the second aim to deliver a platform comprising on-farm soil/root health testing tools...

What has already been done? Last year, a project to establish the level of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in arable soils across a range of locations, soil types and management systems was carried out. The project, led by Dr Tom Thirkell of the Crop Science Centre, complemented work...

EU delays biodiversity rules amid rising protests from farmers Written by Lisa O'Carroll in Brussels from the Guardian Requirement to leave 4% of land fallow waived for a year in light of cash squeeze caused by flooding, drought and heatwaves Europe live – latest updates Farmers protesting...

The current offer for horticultural growers and farmers Written by The Team Credit: Michael Brown The horticultural sector is a vital part of the UK economy. It contributed £4.3 billion in 2022. Ornamental growers make a significant contribution to promoting wellbeing and contribute £1.5...

Spotlight on new actions for arable and horticulture farmers Written by The Team Biddenden Vineyard At the beginning of the month, we published a post which summarised the recent Agricultural Transition Plan update. The update includes the full range of new and improved actions plus the...

Restoring the River Axe: a Landscape Recovery spotlight Written by Alasdair Moffett All photos credit: Randall Photos Flowing through Dorset, Somerset and Devon, the 35 kilometre-long River Axe is an ecologically diverse river. Its name derives from the Celtic, meaning ‘abounding in fish’...

Written by Eva Osborne-Sherlock from Agriland Genetics are the key to lowering farm emissions and improving farm profits, according to speakers at the recent British Cattle Breeders Club (BCBC) conference. EMEA beef director at Genus ABS, Mark Smith, said sustainability starts with genetics...

Posted elsewhere but might as well post it here too. FT today. Bit of a read, but just shows how utterly fekked up all of this is. One bit stands out: Smith, the University of Aberdeen professor, says carbon sequestration can buy food suppliers “time to decarbonise the rest of their supply...

Written by janineadamson from CPM Magazine Unforeseen consequences of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) are a concern for independent agronomists after they were briefed on the recent updates at their annual conference last week. An interactive poll before the SFI update session revealed...

Written by janineadamson from CPM Magazine A sunflower marketing pool has been launched in response to increased interest in the crop from growers looking for spring alternatives. Although only 400ha is currently grown in the UK, seed supplier Grainseed has confirmed demand could in fact...

Written by Eva Osborne-Sherlock from Agriland A project centred on land use involving academics from Aberystwyth University has received £6.25 million of funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The ‘Land Use for Net Zero’ (LUNZ) Hub is co-led by The James Hutton Institute and the...

According to radio 4, due to lack of council funding farmers are routinly blocking rights of way at least 33,000 cases of this. Personally I'm finding the opposite that my walls, fences, gates & ditches are often vandalised & that tresspassing is endemic. Thankfully I'm in a posh area in some...

The perfect storm of continued volatile input costs, and challenging drilling conditions, have put even greater pressure on grower margins. However, alternative biological options, in combination with reduced chemical inputs, can offer cost-savings, yield and sustainability benefits. With the...

Written by Eva Osborne-Sherlock from Agriland A study being conducted at the University of Leeds Farm is aiming to highlight the “fantastic” benefits of regenerative agriculture. The data for the study was collected by soil stations created by Paul-Tech, an Estonian agri-tech company. The...

I have just put the 4 worded question,above,into the search TFF search box facility ( search titles only) and after browsing quickly through the 7 pages that the search facility comes up with, I can’t see one that directly answers my question. So I ask “What is regenerative farming” and how does...

Coverage of UK farming schemes upgrades and plans to consult on food labelling Written by defrablogs There has been widespread national, regional and trade coverage of our announcement on the biggest upgrades to UK farming schemes introduced by the Government since Britain left the EU. At...

Written by janineadamson from CPM Magazine The biggest upgrade to UK farming schemes since leaving the European Union has been set out by the Environment Secretary at the Oxford Farming Conference. The updates include funding uplifts, streamlined application processes, enhanced environmental...