Soil Association

This webinar (part of the 2021 Northern Real Farming Conference and hosted by the Soil Association) explores growing a low growing permanent cover crop such as small white clover to help shade out weeds and provide fertility for the rotation.

Video footage of a session that formed part of the Organic Growers Alliance's Organic Matters conference held in October 2021. It focuses on improving soil health and reducing tillage using compost, manures and woodchip.

This film, created by the Soil Association through the FABulous Farmers project, explores some of the many benefits that can be experienced from different agroforestry systems.

Interest among UK farmers in planting trees on their land has skyrocketed recently. Only ten years ago a survey indicated that very few farmers know what the term “agroforestry” means. One conducted least year showed that almost all farmers are familiar with it now.

OK-Net EcoFeed (Organic Knowledge Network on Monogastric Animal Feed) is a 3-year project coordinated by IFOAM EU and funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme that aims to help organic pig and poultry farmers achieve the goal of 100% use of organic and regional feed.

There is huge potential for farmers to be incentivised and rewarded for protecting and sequestering carbon in their soils. Government initiatives and carbon offsetting schemes in the private sector provide promising funding avenues for farmers who adopt agroecological practices that promote soil health and increase soil carbon. Yet there is a significant data gap as […]

Planting trees is great isn’t it? Good for the farm, good for the planet, good for our livestock for our crops for our soil. It’s very satisfying putting a tree in the ground and imagining what it will look like in a hundred years’ time. But how do we ensure that it actually survives not […]

This is part 1 and 2 of a collaborative 2-part series of virtual events exploring establishment, management, soil health, grazing and ensiling in relation to herbal leys.

A group of farmers on the Isle of Arran, sometimes called ‘Scotland in miniature’ because of the range of farming it hosts, have begun to reduce their own carbon footprint to help create a blueprint for Scottish agriculture, and give themselves a commercial advantage in the process. Farmers on Arran have begun working together to […]

We’re living through a climate emergency, where 10% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture. Keeping the status quo is not an option. But the good news is, it’s possible to farm with nature and make a profit. Good grassland management, agroforestry, cover cropping and farming organically are just some of the ways […]

This project is trialling adding uncomposted versus composted woodchip from on-farm woody resources as a soil improver. By linking management of farm hedges and trees with the improvement of soils for agricultural production and providing an additional economic incentive for management of hedges and on-farm woody resources, it aims to increase the sustainability of the system as a whole.

Assess the potential business benefits of agroforestry for your farm or client and understand the possible benefits to the wider environment with this invaluable handbook.