Agricology Blog

On 12 February I attended the annual BASE-UK conference in Newcastle. The day was filled with a range of inspiring and informative talks that covered topics including living mulches, on-farm research, strip till in horticulture and building on-farm resilience.

Oper8 is a three year EU horizon project bringing together farmers, researchers and academics to share alternative weed control solutions.

Groundswell 2023 did not disappoint – the buzz of stands, workshops, discussions, and of course general socialising did indeed create a huge ground swell of people hungry for information and inspiration. Janie Caldbeck reflects on some of the takeaway messages...

Christine Watson asks what we can do to produce more grain legumes in the UK, and why there is a difference in yield between those grown on-farm and the potential yield of those crops grown under ideal conditions...

"We set out to create some easy to follow but detailed resources that would help farmers, growers and other land managers to increase their use of nature-based Integrated Pest Management (IPM) - no matter where on this journey they currently are. This blog highlights what’s in these resources, and where people can go to find them."

Real Seeds' Kate McEvoy shines a light on the fragility of the seed system and trys to encourage people to think about seed sovereignty as a fundamental part of food sovereignty...

A joint industry and Research Council funded project looking at how to reintegrate sheep into arable systems for the improvement of soil quality is seeking help from arable farmers.

Whether conventional, organic, regenerative, agroecological, or any other flavour of farming, it seems more and more farmers are getting interested in agroforestry.

For organic pig and poultry farmers, living up to the ideal of feeding 100% regional and organic feed is difficult and especially for protein that fulfils amino acid requirements (cysteine, lysine and methionine most notably). Balanced diets are important, not just for healthy growth and production, but also for animal welfare where, for example, an imbalance can lead to feather pecking and cannibalism in poultry.

Reducing tillage and chemical inputs can be beneficial for soil and the environment, so could a permanent clover understorey acting as a 'living mulch', moving towards a perennial soil cover, offer a practical solution to reducing inputs and having more sustainable cropping systems?

The growing season has, without a doubt, already presented us with some significant challenges and, while recent government advice has altered the way that the Kings team is communicating with customers, we are still very much available to offer technical advice and recommendations to support your crop strategy and wider business.

Although often considered a relatively ‘new’ weed, it was recognised as a ‘very trouble­some weed among wheat’ over 175 years ago (Sinclair, 1838).