The Source

"We have allocated a total of £310m to new agreements across both application windows in SFI26, £253m through Window 2. These agreements will invest a total of £930m in environmentally sustainable farming over the next 3 years."

The survey aimed to understand current levels of physical and mental health and wellbeing among women living and/or working on farms within England and Wales, and to begin exploring how these might be associated with a range of personal characteristics and aspects of life in agriculture.

Across its history, the Estate has been responsible for the stewardship of this land: building homes and churches; planting forests; producing food and timber; and supporting rural prosperity.

British blueberry growers are accelerating investment in production and post-harvest technologies to satisfy rising consumer demand and increasing appetite for larger fruit sizes and better eating quality as premiumisation reshapes the category.

Against the backdrop of the challenging global environment for farmers, a recent report has revealed the current and future spending habits by farmers on general “agri-tech,” plus biologicals and generative AI – with some surprisingly positive results.

The report advocates for policies that support the multifunctional role of upland sheep farming, recognising it as a provider of food, biodiversity management, cultural heritage, and climate resilience.

The capacity to change is not fixed. It can be built. That is the most hopeful conclusion of this study.

A large portion of the industry’s workforce is being ‘inherited’ rather than chosen. While this can help with continuity, expertise and succession (as knowledge and connections are passed down), it also means agricultural careers are far less accessible to people from outside farming families, potentially narrowing the pool of talent and overlooking fresh perspectives.

In Greenhouse in Transition, researchers from the Netherlands and the United States are exploring more sustainable greenhouse designs, more efficient growing systems and ways to connect greenhouses with their surroundings, for example by exchanging water and waste heat with farms and industrial sites.

Noted effects included reduced leaf size, abrasion damage to roots and changes in shoot and root lengths. Microplastics were also found to disrupt nutrient cycling and availability, increasing greenhouse gas emissions from soils and reducing the amount of nutrients available to the crops.

With so much at play when choosing the right break for a cereal-based rotation, where do priorities currently lie and which crops are coming out on top? CPM asks its readers for their thoughts during one of the toughest harvests of modern times

This year marks the 170th anniversary of the Park Grass Experiment at Rothamsted – one of the most influential ecological studies ever undertaken.