Research

AHDB has welcomed a pioneering study by UK scientists that demonstrates the need for using multiple metrics, such as GWP*, to accurately assess the climate impact of methane from livestock for better policymaking.

New research by the Universities of Warwick and Nottingham has revealed how differences in farmer behaviour, particularly around vaccination uptake, can influence the outcome of livestock disease outbreaks.

Research carried out by UCD’s School of Agriculture and Food Science has shown that significant cost savings are possible when using multispecies swards for grazing livestock, which can yield up to 25% more herbage and lead to quicker finishing times.

A two-year feasibility study led by crop research organisation NIAB is set to explore the potential for domestic chickpea production, which could further reduce fertiliser reliance in the UK arable sector.

Despite the cost-of-living crisis still impacting household finances, recent AHDB research has uncovered that consumers are willing to treat themselves in-home as a cheaper alternative to eating out, which presents an opportunity for some premium meat products.

A team of Royal Agricultural University (RAU) researchers looking to understand the risks and opportunities of lab-grown meat is offering farmers a funded opportunity to share their views on how the controversial technology might impact UK agriculture.

With the frequency of extreme weather events on the rise, there is an increasing need for agriculture to build resilience against climate change, which has been the focus of research carried out by ADAS and the Met Office Hadley Centre to identify ways farmers can adapt their practices to the changing climate.

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.