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.

We were delighted to take part and attend (in-person and on-line) the Oxford Real Farming Conference a couple of weeks ago. Ever inspiring, we thought we’d give you some of our reflections along with some useful resource recommendations that were highlighted in the sessions that we attended…

While there is lots of information to be found if you look in the right places or speak to the right people, there is a need to pool it together and make it more accessible. This is what this book by Andy Dibben and Ben Raskin does so brilliantly...

Come along to ‘The Study’ at Groundswell, where a varied and stimulating range of talks combining science, education and farming await...

The aim was to hold a practical event demonstrating techniques to restore soil health and sharing knowledge and experience between local farmers and farm managers working at a range of scales in the catchment.

"We can’t be growers championing our sustainable production and continue using peat. The issues at stake - biodiversity loss and the loss of carbon - are just too great..."

Agricology's Farm Engagement Officer Matt Smee reflects on his experience of the ORFC (2023) and its contribution to helping build a resilient, equitable and sustainable farming system...

"...my friend Jude Dunn was ahead of the curve with her practical soil remediation experiments on her Welsh smallholding. Harvesting white mycelial threads from the lowest layers of woodland leaf litter to make probiotic fertilisers and fermented teas for different soils was the nexus of her project 'The Microbial Forest'..."

PhD student is looking for farmers to fill out a survey designed to help understand the potential of rhizobial inoculants.

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.

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?

In 1992 I started my career as a newly fledged post-doc working on the Integrated Farming Systems project and so have been intrigued to see the rising interest in regenerative agriculture. But what is it, and is it any different to integrated farming that has been promoted by organisations such as LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) since its establishment 1991?