Research

A recent Irish study argues women in the farm sector have played a key role in the growth of agrotiurism by being more open to farm diversification and going beyond the “productivist” type of thinking in agriculture.

Findings from a three-year nitrogen (N) efficiency trial have been labelled as a ‘potential game changer’ for growers looking to enhance farm sustainability and variety performance while reducing the overall cost of N inputs.

Farmers and researchers at the Oxford Real Farming Conference 2023 discussed various practical and cost-effective ways of increasing fertility and nutrient availability in the soil while reducing or eliminating the need for artificial fertilisers.

The results of an ongoing Innovative Farmers field lab indicate that diverse winter grazing crops offer major benefits to soil health and biodiversity, as well as the potential to cut input costs while farming in harmony with nature.

With edible insects being hailed as a sustainable source of high protein food, researchers at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) have been awarded more than £10k to develop a strategy for using them in animal feed.

For the last 18 years the FBS has been undertaken independently by Rural Business Research (RBR). However, change is afoot with the handover of the contract to Promar International. In this moment it feels important to reflect on the work that precedes the next chapter and the survey’s importance to agriculture’s past, present, and future.

A recent study published by an independent think tank says farmers are open to adopting new technologies but are reluctant to invest due to a lack of confidence in policy frameworks, funding opportunities, and the future of farming in general.

The agricultural sector has seen rapid innovation in recent years due to the need to produce more food on less land, with technologies such as smart crops, agricultural drones, and smart greenhouses on the rise, according to GlobalData’s latest report.

Ensuring plant breeding contributes to a more sustainable future for UK agriculture and exploring how the industry can collaborate to address this challenge, is to be explored at a knowledge exchange event next month.

Ninety-five per cent of dog owners are looking to take their pet on holiday, research from leading rural insurer NFU Mutual has revealed, providing farms with hospitality diversifications a potential market boost.

AHDB and BBSRC are partnering to invest £500,000 in UK agriculture to help the industry transition to more sustainable practices, and ultimately net zero carbon by 2040.

Conservation agriculture crop establishment techniques can deliver up to 18 per cent uplift in growers’ net profits, whilst also providing significant enhancement of key environmental and ecological measures, according to the latest findings of the Syngenta Sustainable Farming Initiative.