Environmental News

Biodiversity is an increasingly hot topic within the agricultural sector. Stuart Holm, arable farmer and outreach manager at the Woodland Trust, shares his approach to improving farm resilience and biodiversity on his land.

Farmers looking to apply for Mid-Tier Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS) funding are being reminded to seek approval from a Catchment Sensitive Farming Officer (CSFO) in the next few weeks to ensure their application will be considered.

Farmer-owned dairy cooperative Dale Farm is the first enterprise in Northern Ireland to switch to clear bottle caps on all of its own-label milk in a bid to make Dale Farm milk packaging more sustainable.

Speaking from personal experience, farmers shared tried-and-tested strategies for reducing emissions at the Innovation for Agriculture and Royal Agricultural Society of England’s (RASE) ‘Farm of the Future: Net Zero in Practice’ event, where improved efficiency, production of renewable energy and carbon sequestration were identified as key factors in achieving net zero in agriculture.

Farmers can now apply for this year’s round of Severn Trent’s Environmental Protection Scheme (STEPS) match funding, offering up to £30,000 for farms in priority catchment areas to invest in improving water quality.

Becky Wilson from Farm Carbon Toolkit explained how understanding where emissions come from on a farm can support informed decision-making on reducing carbon footprint, which can lead to increased business resilience and profitability, at a farming conference hosted by accountancy firm Scrutton Bland in early 2023.

Launched today (12th April), the new Land, Nature, and Adapted Systems (LNAS) Advisory Group will inform Defra on definitions of economic activities that can be considered environmentally sustainable to enhance the UK’s resilience and deliver climate and nature goals.

At a conference hosted by Scrutton Bland earlier this year, Kerriann McLackland from the Environment Bank talked about the various ways farmers can capitalise on creating and selling biodiversity net gain (BNG) units to developers, while still receiving income from BPS and environmental schemes.

Montrose daffodil and potato farmer Willie Officer is seeing the results five years on from hosting Farming For A Better Climate (FFBC)’s pilot project. Taking a more environmental approach to some on-farm practices he has seen crop management improve and costs reduce.

Following calls from the farming sector for more opportunities to access the carbon market, the government has today (30th March) launched two new schemes as part of its commitment to develop a new harmonised approach for measuring on farm emissions.

Rural land and property specialists GSC Grays believe some farms could be better off under the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) scheme and urged farmers to consider transitioning to a regenerative farming system.

Hosted by the Woodland Trust and Soil Association, the two-day event will explore how farming with trees can deliver business resilience and productivity while doing more for nature and the climate.