The Source

Last month, Defra asked farmers and land managers to share their experiences of rising fertiliser costs and how they are affecting on -farm decisions

Qualitative Behaviour Assessment (QBA) is the gold standard method to evaluate welfare and is one of the few methods we have for identifying and assessing positive welfare. It incorporates information on animals’ body language; indicators that have not previously been used. QBA has been included in the Welfare Quality® protocol.

Led by SRUC, the GreenShed system will also produce low-carbon fertiliser and has the potential to remove the equivalent of 237 tonnes of carbon dioxide per farm per year.

This review positions calf nutrition not simply as a management tool for short-term performance but as a biological lever with far-reaching impacts on lifelong animal health, efficiency, and sustainability

£5 million in government grant funding, part of the wider Farming Innovation Programme, is available to attract private investment and support businesses developing near-commercial, on-farm innovations.

Innovation alone doesn’t create value. Protecting it, positioning it and scaling it does. That’s where intellectual property (IP) becomes critical – not as a legal formality, but as a strategic tool for growth. Too often treated as something to address later, for agri-tech businesses looking to scale it needs to be part of the conversation from the outset.

Wageningen U&R Plant Science director Richard Harrison reflects on a future where we can combine a diversity of farming systems. Where will the role of biotechnology fit in then? Harrison explains how the current combination of increasing knowledge, AI and more accessible techniques is democratising science and speeding up biotechnology.

Taller residuals led cows to adopt a more selective and efficient foraging strategy, characterized by shorter, more frequent meals, more frequent movement between feeding stations, and fewer but larger bites. These changes increased forage intake and improved diet quality, supporting higher milk yield without increasing grazing time.

Biodiversity net gain (BNG) was never going to stand still – and it hasn’t – with the government’s response to development on minor, medium and brownfield sites signalling a clear shift towards making the rules work on the ground.

“The events of recent years have reminded us that the external world is unpredictable. What farmers can control is how resilient their own systems are. Nature‑friendly farming offers a practical route to reduce dependence on inputs we do not control and rebuild the natural capital that underpins our businesses. In uncertain times, that is not idealism – it’s sound farm management.” Joe Stanley, Head of Sustainable Farming, Allerton Project

This is part of a series of articles featuring cost focus and control on our clients’ farms. In this article the focus is on bedding materials, and the cost per tonne compared to cell counts and how understanding this might just make a difference.

The Pork Environmental Roadmap sets out a clear, evidence‑based view of the sector’s environmental footprint and highlights where producers can make the biggest impact – building on the progress already happening on British pig farms.