Agriculture Bill: Soil at heart of UK farm grant revolution.

In order to spend more on boosting productivity and environmental benefits the Direct Payments scheme is being phased out over a transitional period. This is due to start in 2021 and run for seven years.

This will give farmers greater flexibility to plan for their future as these payments will be able to be used by farmers to invest in their business, diversify their activities or help new people enter the sector. This is known as The Environment Land Management (ELM) scheme.

Through looking at soil health as a whole the speakers will be discussing how farming using soil health principles and systems that include no-till, cover cropping and diverse rotations.

More and more farmers are actually increasing their soil’s organic matter and improving microbial activity through assessing soil health. This will result in farmers sequestering more carbon, increasing water infiltration, improving wildlife and pollinator habitat—all while harvesting better profits and often better yields.

Roxanne Martin - AgriTech Programme Lead will present an overview of the Eagle Labs and the AgriTech Programme

‘The Potential for carbon sequestration in UK Soils ‘ with Professor Guy Kirk.
Professor Guy Kirk is a Professor of Soil Systems based at Cranfield University, Guy Kirk joined Cranfield in February 2003. Before that he spent 13 years at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines. Professor Kirk's research focuses on physical, chemical and biological processes in soils; how to quantify soil properties and functions; and how to model soil systems at scales from the microbial to the continental.

‘Practical steps to monitor and improve soil health’ with Phil Jarvis Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust.
Phil Jarvis is Head of Farming, Training and Partnerships at The GWCT Allerton Project and has over 25 years of expertise in balancing productive agricultural systems which rely on improving soil health. Within his presentation he will discuss some of most relevant and practical solutions that have proven successful in improving soil health. He will also share the reasons behind these, and how effective implementation and monitoring can support the valuable ecosystem.

Cost

Free to join.

How to register

This is an online virtual event. To register please visit the eventbrite page.