Agrii is thrilled to be involved in a major new £5.9M farmer-led research programme involving 18 industry partners and over 200 farmers. The project, which is funded by the Farming Futures R&D fund, part of DEFRA’s farming innovation programme, is geared towards investigating the potential of pulse crops in substantially reducing carbon emissions.
The consortium of UK companies, research institutes and farmer networks, led by PGRO, aims to bring about a reduction of 1.5Mt CO₂e per annum or 54% of the maximum potential for UK agriculture.
The ambitions of the project are to increase pulse and legume cropping in arable rotations to 20% across the UK (currently 5%). In addition, 50% of imported soya meal used in livestock rations will be replaced with more climate-friendly home-grown pulses and legumes.
Both of these ambitious aims will be steered by science and proven by real farm enterprises, with significant benefits for both crop and livestock productivity, including cost savings of over £1bn/year.
Agrii will be involved in the project through a number of aspects, one being through close monitoring of trials in assessing the beneficial effects of legume crops on successive non-leguminous crops, such as cereals, across the rotation. Our trials will utilise real-time soil sensors to determine nitrogen availability during crop rotations. We will closely monitor these through RHIZA remote sensing capabilities and via drone flight software Skippy Scout. We want to understand more about improved farm efficiency opportunities and optimised crop fertilisation approaches.
We will also focus on looking at the nitrogen output and growing regimes of novel crops such as chickpeas, lupins and haricot beans, which farmers may look to as alternative crops to grow for human consumption or as an additional protein source for their livestock rations. They also provide a nitrogen source to following crops, further reducing reliance on synthetic nitrogen.
To find out more about the project, please search for ‘Nitrogen efficient plants for Climate Smart Arable Cropping Systems (NCS)’ through your online search engine, or please do get in touch with Lucy Cottingham at lucy.cottingham@agrii.co.uk.
