In October 2024, RASE and Innovation for Agriculture held a soil and compost workshop at Norton Court Farm in Gloucestershire. Debbie Wilkins runs the 950 acre farm, which has a mix of beef and dairy cattle, and arable. She is trying to support many natural systems while still being a productive farmer, implementing measures to restore biodiversity, improve soil health and manage flooding naturally.  The day centred around Debbie’s research project with the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) looking into the potential of a slurry free dairy farm. To achieve this, Debbie, alongside RAU students and researchers, has been investigating making bokashi with her farmyard manure, which is then spread on her fields to support soil health and crop growth. Know

Insect farming offers a way to upgrade low value organic materials to a protein rich product. The sector has grown significantly in the UK over the past 10 years, along with the number of companies developing products and technologies. A recent Farm of the Future webinar brought together Mike Boulton from Ento U.P, Thomas Farrugia from Beta Bugs and Larry Kotch from Flybox to discuss diversification into insect farming. The session was chaired by Nick Rousseau from the UK Edible Insect Association, which is building an insect farming community of practice to include experts, technology providers, retailers, product developers and manufacturers, alongside farmers and anyone else with an interest in insect farming. The speakers discussed the logistics of insect farming,

Agri-tech developments can impact everything from herd health to monitoring of carbon flows in the soil, and include the introduction of robotic systems to carry out tasks which historically have been done by people. The Riseholme Campus at the University of Lincoln is a fantastic place to explore agri-tech developments, with numerous examples of putting technology into practice on the university farm. There are also many nature-based solutions being used to increase farm resilience, showcasing how use of technology and farming with nature can co-exist and enhance farm business resilience together. The following blog includes five of the key themes from the ‘Farm of the Future: Agri-tech in Action’ day which was hosted at the Lincoln Institute for Agri-food and

Methane inhibitors fed as part of a ruminant’s ration can reduce the quantity of methane produced in the rumen and emitted by the animal. This can reduce the overall emissions associated with meat and milk production. A recent Farm of the Future webinar brought together Annie Williams from the UK Agri-Tech Centre, Philip Ingram from Cargill, Adrian Packington representing DSM-Firmenich and Stephen Kenyon from Harbro. The speakers discussed what methane inhibitors are, why there is such a high level of interest in them and the specifics of some of the products available. What are methane inhibitors? Methane inhibitors are feed supplements that reduce emissions by inhibiting enteric methane reduction from ruminants. While providing an overview of what methane inhibitors, Annie

Farmers can register to attend a demonstration event at Plumpton College in East Sussex, to see and discuss how to future proof their livestock businesses.

Regenerative agriculture can restore soil fertility and increase the levels of organic matter in the soil remarkably fast, but how do regenerative farming practices impact the nutritional quality of food?

Artificial intelligence (AI) has a multitude of uses in livestock farming. In livestock farming, a lot of the uses of AI so far have been using data analytics, rather than deep learning.

Root crops present a particular challenge to farmers who are trying to adopt regenerative practices.

Putting any type of new approach into practice on-farm tends to involve a certain amount of trial and error, as no farm system is identical and what works for one farm may need adjusting significantly to work for another. In a recent RASE Farm of the Future webinar, three farmers shared their experiences of putting regenerative farming theory into practice. One speaker, Andy Gray from Elston Farm in Devon, shared how he is trialling growing maize with a permanent living mulch, which is part of an Innovative Farmers field lab trial. To do this, he is establishing a living mulch of dwarf white clover and using a strip till to drill maize into it. Why grow a living mulch with

RASE award winner talks of how he has applied his ecological training to farming decisions.