Sustainable Farming

The Defra Farm Practices Survey shows that just under 50% of farmers are not acting to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from their farm, with nearly 75% quoting the fact they are unsure of what to do or lack of information as the reason for not acting.

Ben Sell, who is based at a 300-hectare family-run farm close to the New Holland factory at Basildon and runs a farming and contracting operation with his family, has been one of a small group of tractor users testing the pre-production T6.180 Methane Power tractor.

Origin Fertilisers is supporting farmers in reducing their carbon footprint and increasing the sustainability of farming through its NUTRI-CO2OL® service and NUTRI-MATCH tools.

Eighty-four per cent of farmers and growers interested in applying for Environmental Land Management schemes (ELMs) want to see net zero measures included alongside environmental and biodiversity actions. 

Key elements of Defra’s new environmental grant schemes are still not in place despite the initial rollout just months away and low uptake of farmers.

The Government’s new commitment to soil health will be ’hollow words’ if the House of Commons rejects ’a crucial amendment’ to the Environmental Bill, the Soil Association (SA) has warned.

As a farmer who took part in the UK Government’s genetically modified (GM) crop farm-scale evaluation trials 20 years ago, and as a passionate advocate of the importance of genetic innovation to healthier and more sustainable food production, I read your article ‘The term ‘gene editing’ is confusing consumers’ (FG, July 26) with an uneasy sense of deja vu and a concern that we must learn from past mistakes.

Destocking on Dartmoor has led to molinia (purple moor grass) becoming out of control and taking over the moor.

JCB is forging ahead with the development of alternatives to diesel engines with the Staffordshire-based manufacturer believing hydrogen is the future fuel for combustion engines. Alex Heath finds out more.

Farmers should not anticipate too much change in light of the Government’s new public consultation on banning a range of polluting plastics this autumn.