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Why a blog?
The Farming Futures blog is for farmers, land managers and their advisers to discuss and debate the issue of climate change and sustainability in agriculture.
We’re interested in how you think we can produce more food for a growing population in the context of Government targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, hotter, drier summers, higher energy and input prices, and the increased consumer interest in 'low carbon' food.
This is your place to take part in the debate. Find out why we think a blog is important by clicking here.
Blogs marked with our weak signals logo explore ideas, trends, technologies or behaviour changes that are as yet unrecognised by the mainstream farming industry. They might have a big impact on future farm practices or they might disappear. They help us to challenge assumptions about the future, navigate risk and seize new opportunities. If you spot a weak signal, get in touch and we'll get it on the site.
Want to contribute? Contact Tamsin: farmingfutures@niab.com (01223 342329).
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News & Blogs - June 2010
The year is 2025. An army of nano-sensors have been scattered like dust across the fields and farms of Britain. They are the eyes, ears and noses of the farming world; programmed to work together, designed to respond to every variation in water, temp...
Since Robert Bakewell’s work in the 18th Century, selective breeding has become commonplace in agriculture, and new breeds of sheep have consistently emerged as a result. I’m involved with a group of farmers who are designing a better ewe...
Climate News and Knowledge is our fortnightly round up of some of the main stories covering climate change and sustainable farming. This week there’s talk of water, light and super pig farms… as always, we value your comments...
It goes without saying that roof space is often not a problem for farmers, but only recently in the UK have so many looked to them to produce clean electricity. The introduction of the UK’s Feed-in tariff in April this year has proved an...
With the Fuel Quality Directive coming into force in early 2011, growers supplying wheat and oilseed rape for the biofuels market could be missing out on financial rewards by not having control over the information that they own.
The Directive is dr...
Farmers and gardeners know how important N, P, and K are – they’re not called ‘the big three’ for nothing. Without them, our crops cannot grow and fertilisers based on these nutrients are the building blocks of farming. But ar...
The UK supports 20% of the worlds blanket bog and a recent report by Natural England found that 96% of deep peat (peat more than 1m deep) in England has already been exposed to some degradation. Can saving our peat save our climate?
Earlier this week...
With input prices ever on therise and the constant pressure to produce cost effective food whilst protecting the environment, farmers are always looking for ways to save a buck. Defra’s updated Fertiliser Manual and PLANET 3 could be a great pl...
We've had a long-standing interest in renewables on our farm – we have a woodchip boiler, a 6KW wind turbine, and solar thermal installed. Our latest addition has been solar PV on our barn roof. We genuinely feel responsible for looking careful...
They say if you can take one thing home from a meeting it’s been worth going, but when I went to RASE’s seminar on mitigating climate change solutions from the grassland sector last week I got two.
The first was about High Sugar Ryegrass...
The world has gone Carbon crazy – and for good reason. But with all the talk of carbon reduction commitments, greenhouse gas action plans and carbon labelling on crisp packets have we missed a bigger issue looming on the landscape?
Water...
The introduction of the new Feed in Tariffs (FiTs) has meant a very busy couple of months for me where my focus has been redirected onto small scale turbine development. This is where the opportunities lie and what the FiT system favours. Starting th...